Constantly Changing
by Alicia Olivia Mirza
Summary: Tonks is stuck in 1977 and it was NOT her fault. Armed with (somewhat lacking) future knowledge and under the name of Dora Turner she is about to change the history of the wizarding world - except she has to play a teenager, Remus is even more frustrating here, she may have ruined a future marriage, Sirius is an idiot and Voldemort seems to be unstoppable. {time-travel, RLNT, JPLE}
1. Tonks hates time magic

**_Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the OCs. The world of Harry Potter was created by J. K. Rowling and I'm just borrowing her characters and settings for my readers' and my own enjoyment._**

 **/If you like the story check out my Tumblr (aliciaomirza) for more content!/**

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 **1\. Tonks hates time magic**

 _or where Tonks is clumsy and Time-Turners are fragile_

Tonks didn't expect to see Mundungus Fletcher ever again after Harry confronted the thief. She envisioned the man staying in the dark, not showing his face, maybe even skipping the country. With the war going badly, she mostly wasn't sure he was ready to be a known member of the Order and not because he was frightened by a sixteen-year-old. She should have known better than to think that the man would just disappear. Mundungus was a coward, but even the thought of money was enough to give him courage. Maybe he was even a tiny bit loyal to the Order – or at least to Dumbledore. She never enquired what the old wizard had done for the thief that got Dung involved with the Order, but now she was burning with curiosity. The old man seemed to have a way to ensnare the most unlikely people to the cause with his mind magic. (Snape?!)

Still, she hadn't seen Mundungus for months and to be honest she wouldn't have minded another few either. Luck hadn't been on her side recently though. Ever since the death of Sirius she felt that nothing was going the way she would have liked. Remus stupidly insisted that they shouldn't be together and ran off to play house with feral werewolves while having the excuse of helping the Order. Then there was the Ministry as well - while they acknowledged You-Know-Who's existence by now, they still downplayed the danger and tried to play political games instead of focusing on an existing war.

She felt like You-Know-Who and his minions were getting stronger every day, his army bigger and bigger while she was stuck in a limbo, a continuous existence of grey. She didn't mind having been stationed as an Auror at Hogsmeade as part of the protection of the students of Hogwarts or patrolling the corridors of the school for Dumbledore, but she felt that the school year had greatly progressed and they were no closer to defeating You-Know-Who than they were after the Battle of the Department of Mysteries last year. When the Ministry was denying that You-Know-Who was back it always seemed to her that the moment they realized they were wrong, the Light side would win. It was, of course, a stupid notion, but now that the Ministry indeed accepted that they weren't rid of the evil wizard, it was no better – the Order was still frowned upon even.

She faced Mundungus Fletcher with such dark thoughts. He was standing in the shadows in an alley with another dark-clothed man bending over a weathered suitcase. If it was anyone else than Dung, Tonks would have suspected him to be a Death Eater. Knowing the man though, he was just doing his usual business – not that his everyday job wasn't illegal according to the Ministry regulations. Knowing that as an Auror it was still her job to make sure the citizens of wizarding Britain abided by the Ministry's regulations, she made her way quickly towards the pair.

At moments like this, she greatly missed her ability to change her appearance – the same ability that hasn't exactly worked ever since Sirius' death reminded her of what was going on and Remus broke her heart just because he was being stupid, a self-sacrificing prat. Trying to focus on what was going on she quickly made her way towards the pair. She raised her wand, but before she could have done anything the buyer suddenly looked up and he noticed her, Disapparating with a cracking sound. Mundungus was obviously surprised by the sound and let go of the suitcase as an automatic reaction to the loud and close noise. It was full of old and most probably magical junk. She suspected at least part of the stuff in there were from the Black family home he raided after Sirius' death. She wouldn't be surprised if this was the case Harry caught him with a few months prior.

Some of the antiques fell out of the suitcase and landed on the ground surrounding Mundungus with various sound effects probably based on their material. She disarmed the smuggler before he could collect his junk and disappear not unlike what he did when Harry confronted him. The wand flew out of his hand, but it landed among the stuff that spilt out of the case. At the same moment, they both leapt towards it.

" _Stupefy_ ," she pointed her wands towards the short wizard with bandy legs and long, straggly ginger hair. Mundungus fell over like a sack of potatoes. With Voldemort on the loose the Ministry had much bigger problems than the likes of Mundungus. Especially as while half the things the man did on regular basis were completely against all magical laws, he was the member of a secret organization working on bringing down the real evil guy.

So as useless and worthless Mundungus sometimes seemed – not to mention bad – he was essentially not only the lesser evil but a good guy as well. He was pretty well-informed and well-known in the shadier circles. With Death Eaters running around freely it seemed like such a waste to throw an Order member in Azkaban just for doing some stupid and highly illegal business. Tonks knew well that the Ministry was not exactly fair nowadays. To make it seem like it was a capable institution they were ready to throw everyone in Azkaban (except for Death Eaters as they were harder to catch and keep under lock).

So, Tonks didn't really have the heart to take Mundungus to the Ministry. She couldn't leave him in the alley when he had lost his consciousness, not when Death Eaters were around either. She supposed she could take him directly to Dumbledore – who was probably the only person on Earth Mundungus respected in some form – or take him to the Order Headquarters directly.

She supposed Dumbledore made more sense if they ever wanted to see him again. She was pretty sure if she left him at the Order's building, by the time someone got there, he wouldn't be around. First, as he was out for a while, as an Auror she insisted on getting a look at his goods. She was sure Dumbledore would take care of the stuff as well, but she still wanted to make sure there was nothing extra bad or very important among the stuff. She might need some back-up otherwise. The potential buyer might want something so badly that he came back and took it by force after all. Plus, she felt that Mundungus was more loyal to his wallet than towards the Order.

There were countless pieces of silverware with the Black family crest. However, what first caught Tonks' attention among the stuff was a necklace that gleamed like gold. When she reached for it, her hands were shaking. She picked it up by the chain and touched the glass. To her greatest alarm, it seemed like the glass was cracked and the natural gleaming got stronger. To make it worse, the chain itself was getting hotter by the second, as if it was currently being trained by fire. In her fright at the discovery and the burning sensation of holding it, she accidentally let go of it. Instead of falling in the suitcase which was about a foot away from her it met with the ground at her feet with a shockingly loud cracking sound and the necklace's glass literally exploded with not only glass pieces speeding in the air, but with a strange heat wave. She was surprised that no pain came – somehow none of the glass pieces seemed to have reached her. She took a look at Mundungus and he seemed equally spared from blood dripping down on him and looking like a glass hedgehog.

She bent down and reached for the remaining of the necklace while noting the strange sand on the ground was still gleaming in the same golden light. In hindsight, it was a bad idea. The moment she touched the necklace, her fingers brushed against the sand on the ground. The last thing she saw was Mundungus lying on the ground like he was sleeping soundlessly. The sand started gleaming even more brightly. She jerked her hand back and closed her eyes to protect them from the sudden bright light which was blindingly strong.

She felt strangely weightless and light headed all of a sudden. She couldn't keep standing, her entire body was shaking, not keeping her weight and she collapsed like she had been just hit by a stunning spell. A stunning spell, that had to be it.

"Ma'am, are you alright? Do you need a healer?" The voice seemed very distant. "Madam?" It seemed to be getting closer though and somewhat stronger.

"Do you need medical attention, ma'am?" Now she was certain that she was the one being asked, but she couldn't open her mouth or even eyes. Someone started shaking her and this time she felt strong enough to open her eyes. The first thing he noticed that she was being shaken by a man who was oddly familiar.

"Ah, you are awake!" He seemed rather relieved at the thought. She was able to conjure a slight smile on her face.

"Yeah – th-thank you," she replied, her voice shaking a bit. "D-do you know what happened to me?" He was silent for a moment as he let go of her and he took a step backwards. She needed only a moment to realize that she was still in the same alley in Hogsmeade as previously, but nor Mundungus neither his case with the spilt goods was anywhere. Instead, she was half-lying, half-sitting in an awkward position on the ground.

"No – not really. I only saw a sudden bright light coming from the alley as I was passing by and then you on the ground. I suspect that you were hit by some spell and the perpetrator slipped away. Though, I don't think he Apparated, because I heard nothing," he explained, though Tonks had no clue what was going on. While Mundungus hated everyone at the Ministry who had any power against petty criminals like him, she was pretty sure that he wouldn't leave her on the ground like that – not when she was supposed to be guarding Hogwarts on Dumbledore's behalf. While as an Auror it was her duty to stop Dung's business meetings, they were essentially on the same side. She was sure that Mundungus knew she wouldn't turn him in so he had no reason to just slip away like that.

Was she attacked by Death Eaters then? She was about to send a Patronus to Dumbledore, but she didn't want an eye-witness, even if the said witness seemed to want to help her. It was wartime which sadly meant that no one could be trusted outside of their small circle. Even sadder was that sometimes that small circle had traitors too. Could Mundungus be that for the reformed Order of Phoenix?

"Thank you for your help," she muttered. She hesitantly stood up and realized that she was still not completely coordinated. While trying to find her footing she spent a bit more time on trying to put a name to the face or at least to remember where she had seen him before. She didn't think that it was this man who attacked her, but it was bad enough that she had been knocked out once already; she had to be more careful now. The one who did knock her out could still be around after all. She had to have more information.

"It was nothing," he insisted. "Are you sure you don't need to go to Saint Mungo's?" he asked and she shook her head, but that made her dizzy, so she leaned against the cool wall of the alley. If she was going anywhere, it was to Hogwarts – she could personally tell Dumbledore what went on with Mundungus and maybe get checked out by the matron if she still felt bad after the private audience with the headmaster.

"And what about at least sitting down for a while in my shop? It's right around the corner," he suggested. She now recognized the bald man – the owner of Honeydukes, the widely popular sweets shop of Hogsmeade. She spent long hours in his shop during the Hogsmeade trips with her friends while at school. Something was off with him though. He was still wearing a hat on his bald head and he had on a long brown robe, but his face seemed less lined as if another war wasn't just going on so soon after the first one. He seemed much younger this way.

"Ah, Honeydukes," she brightened. She straightened her back and he caught sight of her standard Auror robe which obviously unsettled him. She had a feeling that the reason behind it wasn't that he had something to hide from the Ministry, but because that meant whatever she faced in that alley was enough to take down a qualified Auror. She knew that she was upset about the implications of the situation as well. "Mr Flume, right?"

"Yes, yes," he forced a smile on his face. "And you are Auror –" he trailed off obviously waiting for her name which she provided fairly easily, just not the real one. Mad-Eye had forbidden her to go around telling her real name to adult, qualified witches and wizards as long as she was unable to morph. She found it a bit paranoid, but as she was deeply disturbed by the loss of her ability, she agreed. It was wartime after all and even the candy man could have a dark agenda. It was also strange to always have the same appearance – a bit unsettling for someone who spent her whole life changing it up.

"Auror Turner," she said easily. Turner was one of the most common surnames in Muggle Britain, but there were enough traces of the name in the magical community so her blood status couldn't be guessed easily. She could just as easily be a half-blood as a Muggle-born, she was pretty sure that there might even be a few quasi-pure-blood Turners around. It felt a bit absurd to be so paranoid, but she had to remind herself that she was just a kid when the war ended, sheltered from the whole affair. Now less than a year after the open war has started once again, she already sensed that her mentor's paranoia had some solid roots.

"So, would you like a hot chocolate in my modest shop?" he asked with a genuine smile that must have been the result of her Auror status. These days everyone aware of what was really going on in the wizarding world was more cautious with strangers. However, people seemed to trust Aurors – they were supposed to be the dark wizard catchers after all. Tonks herself knew that with the Ministry not entirely on the right side it was a bit more complicated than that idea, but she still understood those who felt at ease once they realized she was trained to stop the dark arts users.

"Thank you for your offer Mr Flume, but I need to look around here," she gestured towards the alley. "Just to make sure that our village is safe and sound." She also needed to see Dumbledore, she added to herself making a mental list. Maybe even Mad-Eye, the old man would hate to miss some action if there was to be any around Hogsmeade and Hogwarts. Though to be honest she didn't want to face her mentor knowing how she was obviously stunned by someone who left without a trace.

Trace – there could still be one, she supposed, she didn't need to be that negative. With a smile and another 'thank you' she bid goodbye to Mr Flume and turned towards the dark alley. The first thing she noticed that while the ground was filthy the blinding sand she foolishly touched (one of her last memories before being stunned) was not there at all. It was all just filth and grime. She also noted that there was no trace of any of the goods Mundungus dropped. If he was the mastermind behind the loss of her consciousness then the guy was good in cleaning up after himself. If he wasn't then she didn't really want to know what happened to the missing thief, it was probably not pretty. She added to the growing list she had to do to look for Mundungus – he was an Order member after all. If he was kidnapped then he could give up important information.

She did some basic detection spells such as _Specialis Revelio_ and _Homenum Revelio_. She was alone in the dark alley and she couldn't detect any charms or hexes left behind. The whole affair with that annoying thief, Mundungus seemed like a lifetime ago. There really didn't seem to be any trace of what went on.

She left the alley with an air of uncertainty, but she straightened her back and tried to look confident. She was stationed in the village to protect its people and the students close by. She was supposed to have the air of someone who could be trusted to keep everyone safe. She had to step up, couldn't look as uncertain as she felt. Not to mention that maybe she was just making it a bigger issue than it was. Maybe Mundungus really just wanted a way out of the Order and got her out of the way before she could report him to Dumbledore.

However, no matter how many times she told herself that Mundungus was a git who only cared about money, she still felt unsettled. She could fairly easily accept that Dung hexed her, but a deeper layer of her consciousness in the form of an annoying little voice nagged her that there was more to the story. She entered the Three Broomstick in need of butterbeer. (Honestly, she would have preferred something stronger, but she was on duty, plus if she had a concussion or at least hit her had then some real alcohol was probably best not consumed.)

She entered the popular pub which was now pretty empty as it was in the middle of a weekday. It was still cosy and warm though which immediately cheered up Tonks. It was nice to know that even in the middle of a war one could appreciate a good butterbeer.

"Hey! What can I get you?" Madam Rosmerta asked with a polite smile. Tonks looked up at the woman and was once again stunned. Rosmerta was always a desirable witch, a curvy sort of woman with a pretty face and high heels. Not one of Tonks' mates during school had a crush on the barmaid. However, now she looked even better – like she was about ten years younger at least. Only a few days ago Tonks ventured into the pub and then Rosmerta looked completely different, clearly shaken by everything that has been going on.

However, it wasn't Madam Rosmerta's appearance that turned Tonks into a statue, but a pair of – boys. They approached the barmaid from the direction of the door and Tonks noted that Rosmerta was shaking her head and had a fond smile when she noticed the boys. They were both wearing standard Hogwarts uniform with the red and gold of Gryffindor crest. That itself caused one or two other patrons to look up, probably because after a Gryffindor girl was cursed during the first Hogsmeade trip of the year, the future visits of the students to the village were cancelled. Even if the patrons didn't know that if they ever attended the school of witchcraft and wizardry then they had to remember that the village was always visited during the weekends. Hogwarts students were not supposed to be in Hogsmeade during the weekdays.

They were obviously around the sixth or seventh year, nearly adults, maybe by the law they already were. It was the faces that had shaken Tonks. One was tall, well-built, darkly handsome boy with fair skin, medium-length, lustrous black hair, striking grey eyes and an air of casual elegance. He stepped into the pub and seemed already to own it with his easy smile. If the first face reminded her of someone, the sight of the second stepped on her heart and crushed it into tiny pieces. He was tall as well but seemed to disappear behind the ego of his companion. Behind the previous boy probably only Hagrid couldn't hide. The second one's face was pale with premature lines and he had light brown hair. Tonks didn't really need to stare at him to know that he had a lovely shade of light green eyes.

It was impossible and yet she had no doubt who the two boys were. If only they were twenty years older and one didn't disappear in a creepy veil dying in a particularly strange way she still didn't quite understand. (Who died by a tapestry?)

"Hey, miss, what can I get you?" Rosmerta once again turned towards her while the two boys approached them. Up close the resemblance to the men Tonks knew well was even more striking. A pair of grey and light green eyes was turned towards her. She had a feeling that she was staring at the boys rather creepily which made her rather flustered because they undoubtedly noticed it.

"Now boys, you know that you shouldn't be here – one day soon I will have to tell the professors how often I see one of you misfits around here," the barmaid turned towards the two students. The young Sirius lookalike had the careless elegance that was Sirius Black even after twelve years of Azkaban mastered. Her own mother was quite different – a proper lady, as she liked to say. She always tried to be proper, to stand and sit as a lady would. On the other hand, Sirius looked the part of a nobleman, even more, when he was not trying like he knew who he was and didn't even have to work for it, it was all his birthright, it was in his blood.

"Ah, dear sweet Rosmerta you wound me – I thought that you and I were meant to be. This place is like home to me. Can't I just come home to my sweetheart?" the Sirius lookalike tilted his head and pressed his lips together as if the idea of being reported to a teacher by the barmaid really bothered him. Rosmerta shook her head with a quiet laugh.

"Sirius Black, you will be the death of me one day," she replied and the moment she said the name Tonks forgot how to breathe. It couldn't be – yet the boy in front of her looked just like Sirius Black at the age of seventeen did base on the photos she had seen. It wasn't possible though. Not only was Sirius Black dead but he was supposed to be thirty-seven even if he had been still alive.

The Remus lookalike caught her eyes once again probably noticing her panic. "Are you alright, miss?" he asked softly but with purpose and Tonks really was close to losing her head because the voice was achingly familiar, but lacked the warmth. It was polite but distant. Still, his voice always reminded her of melted chocolate even when he was cold with her.

"I just need a bit of air," she said suddenly and jumped up from her seat. She tore her eyes off the boys that weren't supposed to exist and made her way through the pub as quickly as possible passing by the two without looking back.

Once she was outside she couldn't help, but look back. Something was wrong and it had to be bigger than annoying Mundungus Fletcher doing some illegal trading. As she looked around Hogsmeade she hardly saw any difference to what she was used to. She couldn't even point out what felt odd, but she knew that something was off. However, just as a tiny wizard passed by her who oddly reminded her of Professor Flitwick, she once again remembered the last of her memories before she opened her eyes in the alleyway.

The customer of Mundungus Disapparated and it surprised Mundungus whose case of goods fell on the ground. Some of the stuff spilt out of it including the Black silverware. There was a golden necklace with some sort of glass charm on it as well. She picked it up and the glass part of it was cracked. It was strange, it was gleaming in an unusual way and it was too hot to touch – it fell out of her hand and landed by her feet. It didn't just break but exploded, but as she once again looked at her skin and clothes, she noted that not even her robes were shattered by the glass pieces flying off in the heat of the explosion. Some shining sand covered the ground around her and when she wanted to pick up the remains of the self-exploding necklace she touched it. Touching the weird sand was the last thing she could remember if she didn't count the bright light. She was also fairly certain that then Mundungus was still out cold.

She leaned against the wall of the Three Broomsticks and watched as the door opened and the two familiar faces left the pub with hands full of butterbeer talking quietly with each other.

An impossible thought occurred to her: the necklace. There were many antiquities among the goods of Mundungus – why was she so captured by that necklace? The answer came to her suddenly: it reminded her of Time-Turners. It was not the exact same type that she had seen during her training as an Auror she was certain of that, but she also knew that all of the old families had some strange magical items at home. She spent enough time at Grimmauld Place to know how many disturbing, but interesting pieces were found there.

All Time-Turners were destroyed during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries officially. However, surely there was at least one Unspeakable listed somewhere on that big tapestry of a family tree on the wall of the Black townhouse. The Blacks weren't known for always abiding by the laws. Not to mention the fact that she knew about at least one Unspeakable who was a Death Eater during the first war. She was certain Rookwood didn't always follow the rules of the Department either. Could it be possible that she somehow accidentally broke a Time-Turner?

She was never particularly interested in time magic, but during the training she had to learn a bit about Time-Turners even if the Department of Mysteries was the most independent department, the only that wasn't under the control of DMLE. Apparently, it was part of the training even if hardly ever were any cases where Aurors had the chance to use them.

The ones in the Department that got destroyed were all the same prototype – only able to go back five hours and they created a time loop. They were pretty much only used for time management issues and even then one needed to fill out thousands of forms and go through dozens of screenings. However, the reason for that was that there were many time travel experiments beforehand and the consequences were not pretty.

But what if one of her crazed relatives on that stupid tapestry thought they could create something better than the standard regularized Time-Turners? Maybe an Unspeakable who didn't feel appreciated? Harry and his friends pretty much 'destroyed' an entire stock of Time-Turners without any consequences. Due to the way one of the devices fell when their counter was knocked over, the entire stock was trapped in a loop of falling over, un-falling, and then re-falling, in an endless cycle for all eternity, but the kids themselves remained in the present. If she remembered well only these Time-Turners were forced into a time loop. The original time experiments were all about changing history, which meant that if some loony relative of hers created an unauthorized Time-Turner, it could easily be one that intact or destroyed worked differently than the normal ones used for petty issues.

The conclusion she had was rather disturbing: if she accidentally destroyed an experimental Time-Turner she could have ended up in the past with no way back to the future, changing the future with every breath she took.

Why did she have to be so clumsy?

With a sigh, she tossed herself away from the wall. She needed more information as soon as possible. No matter how much she analysed the situation, the idea that she was stuck in the past seemed impossible to her. Based on the fact that Sirius and Remus were still at Hogwarts if this was really all real then she was about twenty years in the past. Oh, Merlin.

She thought of just asking the first witch or wizard who came close to her the date, but she didn't want to look like a lunatic. Instead, she remembered that at least in the eighties and nineties Madam Rosmerta always had a Daily Prophet or two laying around in the pub for those who wanted to read something while drinking or waiting for someone.

She re-entered the pub and made sure that this time she had a smile plastered on her face.

"Hi, sorry for being so rude previously. I didn't feel quite well. Could I get a butterbeer?" she asked once she approached the bar. Rosmerta didn't seem to hold a grudge instead she smiled sympathetically.

"Poor dear, you do look quite pale," she remarked. "A butterbeer, dear." She placed the drink on the counter. Tonks quickly grabbed two sickles from her pouch and placed it in front of the barmaid.

"Thank you. Would you have an issue of today's Prophet? Sadly I missed it and with what's going on nowadays, it's good to be informed," she asked pleasantly. It was kind of sobering that no matter if she travelled twenty years or not a war was going on. Rosmerta was busying herself behind the bar, but she nodded automatically.

"Of course, here, just leave it on the counter when you leave." She placed the newspaper in front of Tonks who eagerly reached for it. She only needed a moment to see the date on it.

 **Thursday, 21st April 1977**

Exactly twenty years.

Later she concluded that she must have hit her head hard because the first thought she had once there was concrete evidence that she was stuck in the past was that at least the list of excuses Remus had against their relationship just got shorter: he was certainly not too old for her anymore. Now she was the one in love with someone six years younger than her. (Well, at least as of March Remus was an adult by wizarding laws.)

"Everything okay, dear?" Rosmerta interrupted her desperate chain of thoughts. She smiled wickedly.

"Oh, absolutely. It's such a perfectly normal day, you know?" Unfortunately, she had the feeling that living in the seventies would be the norm for her from now on. Until now she was just never interested in time magic, but that now certainly changed. She hated time magic.


	2. Molly gets a new cousin

**2\. Molly gets a new cousin**

 _or where Tonks decides to stay and comes up with a story_

Tonks had no idea what she was supposed to do. She was not an Unspeakable, but Aurors were a rather exclusive bunch when it came to the Ministry, they were pretty much the 'very important people' of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement which was not only the biggest but the most influential department of the Ministry as well. It meant that while most people had no idea what even could go on in the Department of Mysteries Aurors at least had some knowledge of certain topics – those that under strict laws could help in their work.

Time-Turners fell into that category not that they were ever really used. (Mad-Eye probably sent three Death Eaters to Azkaban by the time he would receive the paperwork to use one.) It still meant that for the theoretical part of her studies she had to learn a bit about them. What she remembered the most was, (other than the part where the first experiences with time magic nearly ruined the world, time and space included) that travelling into the past was tricky but not complicated. However, going into the future was considered close to impossible. That was one of the reasons why Time-Turners were so useless – one could only travel a few hours back if they didn't want to be stuck in the past with no way back to home. She supposed her crazy relative who invented this peculiar and non-registered Time-Turner might have even solved the problem the other Unspeakables weren't able to, but she couldn't even find a trace of the Time-Turner that brought her here. She was pretty sure it remained somehow in the present.

She could somehow raid Grimmauld Place she supposed even if the Blacks were currently living there. However, even if somehow she was able to do that she couldn't be sure she would find the Time-Turner there. Merlin's beard – she didn't even know for sure if Mundungus got it from the Black townhouse, from Harry's inheritance. Another idea was to look for Mundungus, but she was fairly certain that Dung wouldn't have had the Time-Turner for the last twenty years. The worst was that even if she found the Time-Turner she wouldn't know how to get back to her time, because she was sure that breaking it was the catalyst for her time travel. Most certainly when it was intact it worked completely differently.

She was fairly certain that she was stuck in the past. Even such an idea came to her mind as sneaking into Hogwarts and asking for a way back to the future by the Room of Requirement, but she has already spent at least an hour in the past. She couldn't be sure if the Room was able to send her back but even if it did there could be dire consequences. What if that little time she had spent in the past was enough to change so much (without even noticing that she had done anything) that once she was in 1997, she hardly recognized the place she had left? She imagined stepping into a Hogwarts which had been under the rule of the Death Eaters for the last twenty years. She shuddered at the thought.

A more positive side of her, of course, reminded her that before Sirius' death she was hardly ever seen in her 'natural beauty' and since she arrived into the past she only gave out her name to one person and even that was fake and other than that all she did was to order a butterbeer. Most probably she didn't affect the life of anyone. Was she ready to test the theory though? Another nagging voice was also reminding her of the endless possibilities of being in the past. She could change the entire wizarding history.

She was still sitting at the counter of the Three Broomsticks when someone sat down next to her ordering the same as well. The first thing Tonks noticed was that the witch next to her had the same robes she had which automatically made her nervous. The Auror Office was not so big (at least in Tonks' time) that the witch wouldn't find it strange that she didn't recognize Tonks. This was not good. She thought of just getting the hell out of the pub as soon as possible, but she feared that might look even more suspicious. If 1977 was anything like 1997 then the magical community was not exactly trusting.

After the witch settled for a butterbeer herself she noticed Tonks. She studied Tonks curiously so Tonks did the same with her. The woman had to be around the same age as she was which made things even more awkward and she hoped that if questions were asked she would be able to keep her true identity a secret, the whole way through this encounter. The witch was short, had a rather round face and short blonde hair. She was not a beauty but had a nice and friendly look – she reminded Tonks strongly of many Hufflepuff friends in that aspect. She suspected that a smile could lighten up her face and make her look pretty too.

"You are an Auror?" the inevitable question was asked. What a good start. Tonks again thought of just running away. She was fairly certain that she would even be able to Apparate from the pub. However, there was something familiar in the woman who was sitting next to her and that made her curious. She knew she had seen her before.

"Yes, I'm part of the Auror Office but my identity has to remain secret I'm afraid – keeping my disguise is important for the time being," Tonks replied. She certainly hoped that she could get control over her ability soon or she was so screwed. In her own time, she frequently used different appearances while doing her job so what she said was actually usually true. She saw the uneasy expression on the witch's face. It was wartime she supposed – she wouldn't be happy either if someone walked around in Auror robes but didn't identify themselves.

"So drinking butterbeer is part of the job?" the Auror asked and Tonks raised her eyebrows.

"I could ask the same," she pointed out and the witch laughed. She studied the witch a bit more and noticed a ring on her finger – married. Seeing the round face and rosy cheeks once again she was reminded of someone she knew back home and now a name came into her mind: Neville Longbottom. She knew the story well, his parents were well-respected Aurors during the First Wizarding War who not unlike her were part of the Order of Phoenix as well. Then just after the war ended they were tortured to insanity and spent the next twenty years at the mental ward at Saint Mungo's. "Auror Longbottom," she added as an afterthought fairly certain that she was right. By the curious expression on the witch's face, she made no mistake. She also saw a picture of the witch – she was on the group photo of the original Order, Tonks remembered.

"I was stationed at Hogsmeade, but I was given a break. I'm guessing our situations are fairly similar," she said and Tonks nearly laughed. Oh, certainly – she was stationed at Hogsmeade as well; only the order was to be given in twenty years' time.

"Something like that," Tonks agreed half-heartedly. It was bad enough that she had seen a seventeen-year-old Sirius. Then she didn't really believe it yet that it was her cousin. However, knowing the fate of this woman sitting right next to her was heart-breaking. She would have loved to tell her how courageously her son has fought at the Battle of Department of Mysteries. It was so sad that Neville never got to hear it from his parents how proud they were of him. She shuddered at the thought of what became of the Longbottoms. She would have preferred a clean death herself – a quick Killing Curse, some green light and be done with it. The idea of existing but not being herself was sad enough, but the woman next to her had a family as well, a child – a child who only knew her as a mental patient.

"I like being in the village – it reminds me of my Hogwarts days. Did you attend Hogwarts too?" Auror Longbottom (who Tonks now remembered was called Alice) asked.

"Yeah, proud Hufflepuff," Tonks replied because this was one of the things she most probably could share without any consequences. After all, it was such a small piece of information. If later on, Alice decided to ask around Tonks was sure the other Auror would find a Hufflepuff witch in the Office. (Hufflepuffs were rather liked at DMLE probably for their loyalty. It was a tempting job after all.) She wondered if the woman was a Gryffindor like her son.

"Many of my family members were badgers too – I was a lion though," she said with a smile. Tonks remembered now Remus and Sirius mentioning that Alice and her husband Frank were a few years above them in Gryffindor. Alice has just qualified as an Auror.

"Uh, I should leave then – don't want to be associated with lions you know," Tonks joked. She was fairly certain that if she was friendly then Alice would have no reason to suspect that her rather half-baked story about being on an undercover mission (and going around telling about it) was a complete lie. She didn't want to be asked for identification. While her Auror badge was certainly valid, the fact that Nymphadora Tonks was currently a kid would certainly raise questions.

"I thought Puffs like everyone?" Alice asked with mirth and took another sip of her butterbeer.

"Sure – I first give a hug to every Death Eater and only then do I try to disarm or stun them," Tonks remarked. Alice started chuckling at her response.

"Exactly what I meant," she answered. It was time for Tonks to leave before she was asked something serious – like her name.

"As much I enjoy making fun of my amazing house, I think I should be on my way. Sadly I have a job to do," she said with a dramatic sigh. To her relief, Alice didn't seem suspicious of her at all. "It was nice to meet you, Auror Longbottom." She offered her hand and Alice shook it.

"It's Alice – and you?" she asked and Tonks knew that she had to lie now.

"Call me Dora then," she simply said and with a wink, she turned around. "Good-bye!"

She confidentially walked out of the pub and sighed in relief when Alice didn't stop her. She Disapparated and asked for a room at the Leaky Cauldron. The room was small but fairly tidy and cosy. She noted that she had a few galleons on her, but not enough to support her lifestyle in the long run. As she didn't really have anywhere to live and didn't have a job, she needed plans. She kicked off her boot, discarded her travelling cloak and lay down on the old bed. She thought again that if she could find any way home then it was probably found in the Room of Requirement. Maybe the Room could provide a door to the future version of Hogwarts or a Time-Turner.

Then there was the obvious choice of going to Dumbledore who was probably the most well-informed wizard at this time period in just about every topic. Why did she come to Diagon Alley instead of just marching up to the gates of Hogwarts, demanding Hagrid to let her see Dumbledore under the tale of being an Auror who was assigned to protect the castle and its inhabitants? Thanks to Alice's presence at Hogsmeade it was fairly obvious that not unlike in twenty years' time, Aurors were asked to step up and protect the students and the village. Unlike with Alice, it wouldn't be strange if Hagrid didn't recognize her name.

Yet, she didn't do just that instead, she was already thinking about how to make up a new identity and get some money through a job. She needed only a moment to realize why that was: she had joked with Alice Longbottom. A young Auror around the same age she was who reminded her so much of a kid who grew up without his parents. Was she ready to go back to the future knowing that there Sirius was dead, Remus could be dead without her even knowing, his best friends were all dead or a traitor, about half of the original Order were dead and Alice and her husband were just a shell of their former selves?

It was not like 1977 was so much different than 1997. She could still be fighting for the same cause after all and maybe her presence would mean that at least one or two more survived. If she was in a time loop then whatever she decided to do have already happened so it didn't really matter, she could just go with the flow. If she wasn't then maybe she could change the history and make sure that less good people died.

She could then again mess up everything – but surely that was hardly possible? If she wasn't able to make any real differences in the war effort until Halloween 1981 then she would just morph into Lily Potter, hide the real Potters besides Harry who was needed as bait and sacrifice herself after all. The war would still end and Remus would have his friends with him. (She had to look up sacrificial protections though. She couldn't remember if it was important that Lily was Harry's mother or not.) Her younger self would grow up in peacetime again if the bastard was resurrected then she could meet Remus again through the Order. Maybe with his friends around (the Potters would live and Sirius wouldn't have gone to Azkaban either after all), he would be more open to having a relationship with her younger self as well.

She was an Order member so even if she was to remain in the past why was she reluctant to tell what she knew to Dumbledore? If there was anyone who could help her to make sure the war ended with fewer casualties then it was the Headmaster. She needed to ponder a few minutes on the topic to realize what was keeping her from telling her entire life story to Dumbledore. She was pretty sure the man would believe her. Thanks to the endless hours of talking with Remus and Sirius at Grimmauld Place through the nights, she knew a lot of this time period and about the original Order. However, would Dumbledore find her plans too risky? Back in her time, they didn't have a way to completely end the war after all. All she knew was a way to get snake face out of the way for thirteen years and the guy would be defeated without her as well.

Would Dumbledore fear that if she was around she would mess up the original timeline and make things even worse? Tonks was pretty confident that she knew enough not to make any rookie mistakes, but this Dumbledore had never met her. Would he trust her with the fate of the wizarding world? Then there was also the problem that Tonks was a bit selfish, she knew it well – there were certain people she not only wanted to keep alive but needed to. Would Dumbledore realize after only a conversation that she would be ready to doom the magical community to save the person she loved? Or her family? She was a Hufflepuff – loyal through and through. However, she sometimes suspected that her personal loyalty was stronger than what she felt for certain causes. Would Dumbledore try to send her back or maybe erase her memories so she wouldn't change the past? Would he let her change things up? She wasn't sure so she decided to keep quiet for now. She had an inkling that the Hat sorted her into Hufflepuff because she never gave up on people. The difference between her and a Gryffindor was that Gryffindors were usually all about the greater good – all about chivalry. She was all about people she cared about.

If she didn't tell Dumbledore everything though then she had no chance to fight with resources behind her. She could not make a difference without an organization behind her though and there was no way she could just march into the Ministry and announce that she was a qualified Auror after all and only trusted people were invited to the Order through connections.

Connections. She had a very stupid idea that might just work in that regard. She knew of five people who were offered to join the Order right after they graduated. What if she got close to them? Fleur got together with Bill and through Bill, she joined the Order too after all. She was an outsider literally from another country and just because of her connection to Bill; she was given the chance to join. If it was 1977 it would mean that Remus and his gang were just in their sixth year. What was she to do until they graduated? How could she even get to know them here? Only one place came into her mind: Hogwarts.

It was a very stupid plan. After all, she would have to craft an entire identity and even school records. She was also fairly certain that Dumbledore would be a bit suspicious of her randomly asking to join Hogwarts as a seventeen-year-old. She would need someone to vouch for her – someone Dumbledore trusted, but not from the Order, because she didn't think any from that small circle of people would trust her more than Dumbledore. She would need a family who was traditionally on the Light side.

A few names came into her mind but one stood out: the Weasleys. They were always Muggle-friendly and proud of it. She remembered Arthur mentioning that his family protested when they were included on the Sacred Twenty-Eight list of pure-bloods saying they had some very interesting Muggles on their family tree. However, during the First Wizarding War, only Molly's twin brothers were part of the Order, Fabian and Gideon Prewett. Dumbledore would trust Molly and Arthur if they asked him to have a relative of theirs accepted at Hogwarts, but the couple was not yet so close to Dumbledore not to help her if she was convincing enough.

Molly was also one of her closest friends back in her time, so she supposed it certainly could work. Only she had no idea how to convince them to help her. Could she just give them a tearful story about being some distant relative whose parents were deceased? Surely the Prewett-Weasley family was big enough to have some relative the couple was not close enough to keep in touch with? She tried to remember every family member Molly, Arthur or any of the Weasley kids have ever mentioned – sadly there were countless and most didn't fit her agenda at all.

She nearly drifted into sleep when she remembered something. Once the topic of Squibs came up when she was talking to Molly. She believed the twins might have done something and that was how Filch's name came up. Tonks told some stories about her years at Hogwarts and how many times she got in trouble as well and Molly said how while she didn't particularly like the caretaker she felt sorry for him, because being a Squib was very hard on people – she knew it well personally, because she had a second cousin who was a Squib and when he found out that he didn't have magic even though everyone else in his family did, he distanced himself from his family and there had been hardly any contact with him since his childhood. The man was an accountant or broker or something like that if she remembered well.

Surely if the man was angry with his family for having magic then if he had a witch for a daughter he wouldn't like her either? If Molly was hardly in contact with the guy then she would probably not know if he had a kid or not. Squibs also didn't need to register with the Ministry so it would mean less paperwork to forge for her. She could be the daughter of a Squib and a Muggle – even less paperwork; she only needed to create an identity for herself then. But why try to contact the Prewett family now? Why wouldn't she go to Hogwarts?

The amazing thing about being mentored by Mad-Eye Moody was that the man was paranoid as hell. There was no such thing as 'good work' work with him because there was always better. What he taught her was to be quick to think (and move). He was rather impressed with her ability and wanted her to push it. He often asked her to come up with not only different appearances but identities too. He pushed her hard on the details. She not only needed to answer all his questions but keep track of the information she had given out previously. Who was her father? When did her mother die? What did she say the day before – what was her Muggle mother's favourite drink? To be honest she didn't really think she would ever need any of this stuff. She was after all naturally gifted in blending in (though she usually preferred standing out).

However, she was now glad that Mad-Eye nearly drove her mad with all his stupid questions. She had a pretty solid life story in only a few hours. After she realized that even if the Weasleys were not that close to Dumbledore just yet, she couldn't be sure they would accept not only her real story, but they would help her as well. She also considered just going to her parents. While her mother was not exactly the most accepting person in the world, she would be the easiest to convince of her identity. However, knowing her mother she would not go along with her plan. Her mother would be the first one to bang on Dumbledore's door demanding to send her back to the future or lock her away until the end of the war. Her father would, of course, be on Tonks' side, but after a while, he would probably give in to her mother who would convince her that it was the only way to keep 'their baby' safe.

So, really, the best way to go was to create a believable identity, attach herself to a well-known light family and make sure not one soul suspected anything. A piece of a cauldron cake! Except she knew that it wasn't, because she needed to not only get into the Ministry but forge their documentation as well. Then she also needed to convince the Weasleys that she was a long-lost estranged cousin who needed their help.

She got out of the bed and put the robe back on. There was a small bathroom with a mirror right above the sink. She leaned against the sink and looked into the mirror. The same mousy brown-haired woman looked back at her as for the last few months. She closed her eyes. This was serious. If her ability wouldn't work then there was no reason to stay. Probably she should just try to get back to her present.

She was always good in Transfiguration, but she just never cared for Human Transfiguration much. She knew bits of course, but she was pretty sure it wasn't enough to create an entirely new identity – let alone many if she wanted to get into the Ministry without being caught. She just never needed this type of magic before when she was essentially born with the ability of Human Transfiguration. (The best thing was that during exams it was accepted! But what made her always rather smug and giddy was now a bad thing as she was dependant on her ability which was not exactly working nowadays.)

She could just do what Barty Crouch Jr did with Mad-Eye and drink Polyjuice Potion, but the potion was not only difficult (she could handle it she was pretty sure), but also expensive. Not to mention the constant need for samples and to drink the potion. She supposed on long-term she could even remain in her natural form as not many people knew her here, but she was pretty sure she looked at least a bit older than seventeen. To be able to forge a new identity she would still need to be able to morph anyways because she certainly would need her ability to fool everyone at the Ministry. Metamorphmagi was the only method out of the three that couldn't be detected or simply revealed.

She thought about Remus first. He was happy here; he always told her that his years at Hogwarts were the best. He didn't know her yet, but that meant that he wasn't running away from her either. He didn't have to live through so many years alone yet, he had great friends. She then thought of the seventeen-year-old Remus and Sirius she had seen. Both were so young and full of life. Sirius was alive and hadn't spent twelve years in Azkaban. She could stop that from happening as well. She imagined Harry then with his parents and Neville with his. It could all happen – there might have had a picture of a little boy with sandy blonde hair and her dark eyes among her thoughts too.

When she opened her eyes she beamed. Her hair was her favourite shade of bubblegum pink again.

The first order of business was shopping. Now that her ability was working, she felt a lot better. Like until now a part of her was missing and now she was whole again. She quickly changed her face, gave herself a rather plain look and changed her hair to shoulder-length dark brown. Diagon Alley was rather deserted not unlike how she remembered it from her own time and sadly as different as possible from her school years.

First, she made her way to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. She didn't have much money, but she knew that if she wanted to get into the Ministry she needed something less conspicuous than her Auror robes that would work better with her morphs.

"Ah, my dear, what would you like?" Madam Malkin asked when she entered the shop and said hello.

"A form-changing and magically-fitting robe," she said and Madam Malkin looked at her strangely, but then she smiled. "Congratulations dear! When is the baby coming?" she asked and Tonks could hardly keep a straight face. Mad-Eye would be very disappointed with her, she didn't even think of an excuse of why she would need such a robe. Luckily Madam Malkin provided her with one. She supposed her idea of a robe would be beneficial for a pregnant witch, great maternity clothing.

"I'm starting to show in a bit of time, so I thought it was time to buy something that would fit me in the future as well," she replied easily. "The baby is coming in October," she quickly did the maths. They fell into an easy chat about motherhood (which Tonks found very funny as she was just about to pretend to be a student again) and Tonks left the shop with a new plain black robe that changed with her, so if she was to morph into an obese person the robe would just broaden with her.

She also visited Scribbulus Writing Instruments where she bought some parchment and quills, just the most basic ones to write a letter. In her room she quickly scribbled one to Molly – well, the first version was quick to write. She only wrote about thirteen others until she felt like she could send it.

 _Dear Mrs Weasley,_

 _I don't wish to disturb you. I don't think you have ever heard of me, but my name is Dorothea Turner. If you ever wish to contact me in the future you could call me Dora. While I believe you don't know who I am, we are actually related as far as I know and was told._

 _I have just recently turned seventeen. I don't know if you remember him, but my father is actually your second cousin, a Squib. As far as I know, he and his family were rarely ever in contact after he learned that he had no magic. The thing is I don't really know my father though. You see I was born out of wedlock and they broke up before my birth. At first, my father was somewhat involved, but I showed signs of magic at a young age and the moment he realized I was a witch; he wanted to do nothing with me. I guess he felt like the universe was playing a joke on him. I can kind of even understand him._

 _My Mum was a Muggle – yes, was – as very recently I've lost her. She died in an explosion created by the followers of You-Know-Who. Her parents disowned her when they realized that she was pregnant and then my father left her. I was her only family, so she couldn't bear the thought of parting with me. So when I got my Hogwarts letter she asked me not to go and I couldn't leave her. A Muggle-born moved into our building just then and saw my accidental magic. When my mother told him she didn't wish to send me to Hogwarts he offered to be my private tutor so I could be home-schooled._

 _Now though my mother has passed away and my tutor who I learned lived in incognito, a sheltered life playing a Muggle fearing the ever growing darkness and prejudice against Muggle-borns decided to leave the country. He told me that as now my mother was dead and I was seventeen he had no reason to stay anymore. He was the one who looked into my father's family tree and suggested to me to write to you. He said that your family would not care for my Muggle heritage and upbringing. He also suggested to me to finish my magical education at Hogwarts, but I feel a bit alone and without direction. Muggle official business was directed by my mother and the magical by my tutor, Mr White who skipped town and left without even a way of contacting him once I realized that it wasn't even his real name._

 _I don't ask for much, I would just like some guidance because suddenly I feel I'm all alone in this world. I have a few Muggle friends, but while I'm a nearly trained witch I can count it on one hand how many witches or wizards I have ever met. I feel a bit lost._

 _I'm currently staying at the Leaky Cauldron because my mother was only renting our flat and I didn't inherit much money. I hope to finish my education soon, so I can get a proper magical job and then maybe then I would have a more permanent home._

 _Yours,_

 _Dora T._

She never thought much about how owls found the recipient of the letters, so she dearly hoped that the fact her name wasn't 'Turner' wouldn't mean that no letter would ever reach her. Was it enough that she thought of herself like that and that she was about to register under that name in the Ministry? She dearly hoped so. Surely there was more to it than the name – after all, there had to be wizards and witches with the same name.

It felt wrong to not only lie to Molly, but also drag down a relation of hers, but Tonks couldn't come up with a better story for herself. Now she was a poor seventeen-year-old without anyone in the world – the sad thing though that the only false information in the short summary of her supposed life was her age.

Once she was ready with the letter and she addressed it, she Apparated to Hogsmeade where she used the post office to find an owl. She simply didn't have the money now to buy one. She was already running low on funds. She really needed to find a job soon. It also occurred to her that it was only the end of April. If Molly was moved by her letter as she suspected she would be and reached out to her could she be moved to Hogwarts already?


	3. Dora has many faces

**3\. Dora has many faces**

 _or where Tonks breaks into the Ministry and becomes Turner_

The amazing thing about being a Metamorphmagi was not that one was practically born with the highest skills of Self-Transfiguration, though Tonks would gladly admit that it was a perk of it as well. No, the best part was that it was a very rare gift that couldn't really be detected or kept track of. In the 1920s Dumbledore actually wrote an article for the Transfiguration Today magazine on the ability (titled 'Is Vanishing without a Trace Possible?') which was still her favourite writing on the topic. It analyzed that it was simply impossible to keep track of someone who could be effortlessly anyone else. (At school Dumbledore was always delighted by her impersonations, especially when he met himself.)

Dumbledore was one of the few who really studied the topic in depth simply because those who were born with the privilege didn't want to give up their secrets and there were just too few of them to draw real conclusions from the limited date they provided willingly. She remembered how her mother looked up any mentions of the ability when she realized what a special little girl Tonks was, but there weren't many.

Tonks kind of understood the witches and wizards before her who shared her ability as she didn't like the idea of being a lab rat either, being some magical theory puzzle and whatnot. This meant though that very few had an understanding of the ability. At school it was an inconvenience, being labelled the weird one and all, but as an Auror, it certainly had many perks. In the future, it was a well-known thing she was able to change her appearance with only a thought, but here it wasn't. She could be anyone and no one knew better. Simply people didn't expect to meet a Metamorphmagus even if they knew they existed. When someone was suspected of faking an appearance people just always assumed Polyjuice Potion or Human Transfiguration spells which could be reversed with a simple Revelio.

Infiltrating the Ministry was ridiculously easy when one was not only a Ministry employee (even if only in the future) but a Metamorpmagus as well. She made a mental note that once she was an Auror again she would bring the problem up with Moody. She suspected that no one thought that an employee who knew the building and habits of the workers would want to break in, but still, it was somewhat disappointing that no one even batted an eye at her. After all, it was wartime and so many magical ways of getting information existed. (Then again the fact was that even Moody's magical eyes could never detect her ability. Grindelwald's famous Self-Transfiguration knowledge was nothing on hers – a simple spell could reveal his true face while she simply had many of those.)

However, she expected a bigger challenge than she got at the height of the First Wizarding War, to be honest. She spent a week spying on the building and the employees showing off (without anyone noticing of course) the skills which granted her perfect scores in Concealment and Disguise during her Auror training. It was somewhat ridiculous that once she assumed a rather plain look everyone just accepted her presence. No one found it odd that they never saw her before. She actually wanted to shout 'CONSTANT VIGILANCE!' at them. Once she even spotted Mad-Eye and for the first time since she decided to stay, she was regretting her decision. This version of Mad-Eye didn't know her and may never feel the same irritated fondness for her as the one she learned not only to respect but care for as well. The thought was sad and sobering. The madman was such a big part of her life back home. She also knew that if even the sight of her mentor could reduce her to such a state then she really shouldn't come across her parents in this time period. Her parents who would be obvious to the fact that they were even related.

Getting into the Administrative Registration Department which was a division of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement never posed a problem in her mind. However, she was not sure about the Department of Magical Education (another division of the same department). The big difference between the two was the fact that as an Auror Trainee she was often forced to be the reluctant mediator between the Administrative Registration and the Auror Office while she probably only once set foot in the second.

Then there was Leto Lufkin or as in the Auror Office, she was often referred to as the Hag. She was just as pleasant as her nickname suggested. She was a grumpy, bad-looking, fat and red-nosed witch with colourless hair dotted with balding patches and she hated to work. She was also infamous for the pride she had for her family. A direct ancestor of hers, Artemisia Lufkin was the first female Minister for Magic. Tonks knew the name well as the Hag mentioned her at least once in every couple of sentences and because not only had been the Minister a Hufflepuff, (go Badgers!) but also Quidditch enthusiast. Without her maybe the Quidditch World Cup would have never been held in Britain. Yeah, even though Tonks had known the witch for years, the only good thing she could say about Leto Lufkin was that she had an awesome great-something-grandmother. However, if everything went according to plans then she could also thank Leto Lufkin for existing from now on.

The Hag was the head of the division and was a fixture of the Administrative Registration which sadly often worked closely with the Auror Office as they provided the files for the investigations. Mad-Eye always said that the Hag was in the Ministry before him and was probably going to haunt the place when she died. She was to moan to everybody how hard her work was even if as far as Tonks was concerned the Hag never worked, just instructed everyone else to do it. Tonks spent an entire day stalking the Hag and that was the second time she seriously reconsidered her idea of remaining in the past. She was reminded of an older, obese and certainly ruder version of Moaning Myrtle.

On the day of her very illegal plan, she simply Apparated in the Atrium, which she once again found a bit strange in the middle of a war. There was nothing to stop an evil wizard and his minions just doing the same after all. She was wearing the plain robe that changed with her form and cost most of her remaining gold on hand. While certain divisions like the Magical Maintenance Department had matching robes (navy), she certainly didn't look out of place in her simple, unassuming and form-fitting black robes. She stepped into the lift and got out at: "Level two, Department of Magical Enforcement, including Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters, and Wizengamot Administration Services."

It was strange to be on the corridor of the Auror Headquarters without actually belonging there. It was even stranger to see a younger-looking version of Arthur Weasley walking by without recognition shining in his familiar eyes. She found it actually fascinating how much he looked like the mixture of his sons. Her eyes followed the form of the man disappearing at the double doors leading to the dimly lit and shabby corridor housing his division, the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office.

She conjured an interdepartmental memo from the official parchment she nicked a few days ago. (Two witches were too caught up about some 'amazing article' in the Witch Weekly to notice a stranger walking away with their enchanted parchments.) She had written a memo for the Hag saying that she was needed at the Department of Magical Games and Sports. It was the only place where she would go herself and not just send one of her lackeys even if she was specified as the requested person, Tonks knew well. Apparently, the fact that her Minister ancestor was a Quidditch fan was enough to make her one as well. Tonks suspected that maybe at that department her speeches about her ancestor were far more welcomed than anywhere else in the Ministry too. It worked well for Tonks as the Department of Magical Games and Sports was on Level 7, pretty much as far as possible from her current position. After sending the memo she had to wait only two minutes to see the Hag leaving the office.

The Hag luckily didn't care for fashion either (she would look horrible in the most expensive and stylish clothing anyways) and was wearing a standard black robe just like hers, which meant even less work for her. It was never a good idea to mess with the enchantments of a tailored robe. If she had to transfigure it to a different colour and style, it might lose some of the magic it possessed already which she didn't want to risk – she didn't have the money for another one after all. She went inside the office and noted with pleasure that no one said a word even though there were three witches in the room and she had just supposedly stormed out of the office after receiving an official summoning.

She chose to impersonate the Hag for the exact same reason. She was such an unpleasant boss no one ever dared to say or even ask her anything. She was simply not questioned – at least not by those under her. Tonks knew that once the Hag arrived at the other department and realized that no one actually wanted to see her face, she would make a huge fuss out of it thinking it was all a joke, someone playing a trick on her. It would take her quite some time to make her way back to her office, Tonks was sure of that.

Tonks in the form of the Hag made her way to the cabinets as quickly as her current weight let her which stored the official citizen certification of the entire magical community of Great Britain and Ireland. She picked up an empty form from the first cupboard. It was a form that was filled out once a Muggle-born started their magical education or a magical family had a baby. In the latter case, if the child was named as a Squib at the age of eleven, their form was annihilated and their existence was only mentioned in the files of the parents. She usually found that regulation harsh, but now it certainly helped her case.

She had a parchment in her robe's pocket with all the pieces of information she remembered seeing on such forms. She placed both the form and the parchment on the Hag's desk and took a glance at the other three witches (all different ages: one hardly out of Hogwarts, one who could be Tonks' grandmother and one in-between) who were obviously watching her, but pretended not to. It was never good to be caught by the Hag.

She ran through the information she needed to provide. Luckily it was rather basic stuff, there would be hardly anything she needed to make up on the spot, about ninety per cent was neatly written down on her parchment. Still, it was a rather long list and she didn't have much time. With a flick of her wand, she copied that info on the paper. This was the part which made her nervous mostly. The Hag hated working so much that when Tonks was a Trainee she was often made to do the tedious paperwork in the Administrative Registration Office even if she was only sent there for a file needed for one of the qualified Aurors or something similarly easy.

She had a basic grasp on the magic needed for forging such a document. (As such a parchment was an official document there were countless spells on them stopping any intruder messing with the documentation. Luckily she wasn't really one – or at least the Hag didn't think of her as such in the future if it meant she had less work to do herself.)

However, Tonks didn't know nearly enough of the Department of Magical Education to know if they used the same methods and if she failed to give herself some O.W.L. scores she had no chance of attending Hogwarts with or without the help of the Weasleys. She nearly freaked out when she didn't remember the way of giving an identification number to the person, but luckily after a long moment of panic, she vaguely remembered having to tap the form twice for a Half-blood while repeating the blood status. She was certain that she did it well because a row of symbols and numbers appeared in the designated space. She quickly copied her identification number on her own spare of parchment as she might still need it for her exam result forging.

She quickly filled out the rest of the form and then checked that everything was alright.

 _First name: Dorothea_

 _Second name: -_

 _Family name: Turner_

 _Birth name: -_

 _Blood status: Half-blood_

 _Date of birth: 6_ _th_ _April 1960_

 _Place of birth: Black Dog, Devon, West Country, England, Great Britain_

 _FAMILY_

 _Mother's name: Emily Turner – Mother's birth name: Emily Turner – Blood status: Muggle – Marital status: not married – Status: Deceased_

 _Father's name: Andrew Prewett – Blood status: Pure-blood (SQUIB) – Marital status: not married – Status: Alive – Current address: Unknown_

 _Sibling: none_

 _Marital status: not married_

 _Offspring: none_

 _Schooling: home-schooled_

And so on. The form was long and she would have felt better if she could already leave because she certainly didn't want to meet the Hag in her current form. Luckily only a few minutes later she felt that the form was acceptable. If anyone ever found it weird they probably would just think that the Hag forced some untrained rookie to do it without ever being shown the process properly. She opened the drawer back at the filing cabinets with a 'T' on it and directed her wand at the stock which organized itself alphabetically. For a comical moment the file was hovering in the air somewhat helplessly like it was trying to figure out where it could fit, but luckily it dashed between other two files with the surname 'Turner'. She was pleased to notice that indeed she hardly was the first Turner in the wizarding world.

She left the office without a word and dashed into a toilet to change her appearance. This time she took on the form of the youngest witch in the previous office who was probably just out of Hogwarts. She had dark blonde hair long hair in a simple ponytail, wide blue eyes and too long nose. The girl was about a foot taller than the Hag so it was comical to see the change – from short and fat to tall and willowy, especially as the robe changed with her.

The second division she needed to visit was on the same corridor, right next to the previous probably because the two were often connected. When she first thought about how to make up exam results for herself she thought of appearing in the form of Albus Dumbledore and saying that there was some problem with an exam result document Hogwarts requested from the Ministry. After all, before 1995 no one ever dared to question the professor. However, exactly because of that she feared that somehow the story would make its way back to him and he would learn about the curious case of Dorothea Turner's newly existing records and his visit to retrieve them. The only reason she was ready to infiltrate the Ministry in the first place was to stay out of the sight of Dumbledore, so it didn't seem like a good plan. Too risky.

Then she remembered that the head of the division had an own office unlike at Administrative Registration. (She had to thank the Hag once again in her head for sending her on another errand to a different department even though she had officially nothing to do even with the administrative office. Mad-Eye loved to send her to the Hag though when she misbehaved. It was the perfect punishment.)

The only problem was that the office's door opened from inside the main office where the lesser employees of the division worked. That was why she needed the look of the young witch. For a moment she wondered what would happen if the youngest of the administration checked in with the Educational Department, but as she walked down the corridor she was pleased to hear the booming voice of the Hag. Knowing the head of the division, the young office clerk would be stuck in the room for a long time.

The main door of the department was just as boring as the division itself must have been. Tonks shuddered at the thought of ever working at a place like the Department of Magical Education. She was pretty sure that even someone like Remus who possessed much more patience than she did would find the job boring. She knocked on the door and entered the office. There were three wizards and four witches in the office. No one really seemed to pay much attention to her which was not surprising. The young witch she impersonated most probably was a frequent visitor to the office. Knowing the Hag, as the youngest she worked the most.

"Mr Pilliwickle is in his office," a slight brunette witch with big glasses offered when she passed her. Tonks quickly thanked the witch and dashed for the office door. She knocked again and heard a deep male voice answer: "Come in."

Julius Pilliwickle was an old wizard with wild tufts of white hair, a large moustache and hunched back as if he was leaning forward his entire life. With the stacks of large books and even larger heaps of parchments in front of her, it wouldn't have surprised Tonks if that was the case. The man probably spent half of his life reading or writing boring documents.

"Ah, Miss Boot, what can I do for you?" he asked. She wordlessly stunned the man who luckily was sitting in his chair, so it seemed like he only dozed off. Then she put up some basic privacy enchantments, first making sure that the office stayed closed. She thought a lot about how to do this part of the plan. She first planned to use _Confundo_ on the man and 'suggest' him to make the documentation she needed. However, she couldn't be sure of the success of such a plan, simply because she most probably would have to infiltrate the office again to check.

Another idea was to just play the character of Miss Boot sent by Miss Lufkin, but she had a feeling that the man would find her request odd and he would look into it which she didn't want. So, in the end, she decided that she should be the one to forge the document without him in the picture. If she wasn't able to do it, she could always make him do it and then she could always erase or modify the memory of her little stunt after all. She preferred avoiding any serious memory charms though as she was no Obliviator and she feared she could cause some damage to the man.

She needed a few minutes to even find what she was looking for and that made her nervous. She couldn't help but glance in the direction of the office door every minute or two.

To her greatest surprise and relief, the parchment was enchanted exactly the same way and the form was thousand times easier to fill out than the previous one. All in all, she actually felt a bit betrayed – if she could forge herself some O.W.L.s in a few minutes then why did she have to study so much at school? Then again she supposed she would have never got the knowledge of forging such a document if she wasn't accepted to the Ministry thanks to her good grades. Still, she found it ironic.

In the end, she gave herself good enough grades so she wouldn't have any problem with getting into the preferred N.E.W.T. courses, but not good enough test results that anyone would give them a second glance. She actually received these grades back in her fifth year and after that, she was told that she had to work harder if she wanted to be accepted to the Auror training. In truth she was fairly certain that if she were to take any of the exams now from those courses she kept up in N.E.W.T. level, she most certainly would do better on them – she was a qualified Auror after all.

 **ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS**

 ** _Pass Grades_**

OUTSTANDING (O)  
EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS (E)  
ACCEPTABLE (A)

 ** _Fail Grades_**

POOR (P)  
DREADFUL (D)  
TROLL (T)

 ** _Dorothea Turner has achieved:_**

Study of Ancient Runes E  
Arithmancy E  
Astronomy A  
Care of Magical Creatures E  
Charms E  
Defence Against the Dark Arts O  
Herbology E  
History of Magic A  
Potions O  
Transfiguration O

Once she finalised the document and checked a few others to see if hers was just like those, she filed the document under the identification number she created previously. She feared that the code would reveal the date of the filing to anyone who looked into it, but calmed herself down by the thought that no one had any reason to pay much attention to her. After all, she was just a Muggle-raised daughter of a Squib and a Muggle. Simple as that. She was very much against the whole blood purity mania, but now she was glad that according to most she was a no one with such a blood status.

She was pretty sure that when McGonagall or Dumbledore would ask for her scores when she started Hogwarts, no one would even give it another look.

When she was sure that the documentation was in order she quickly ended the privacy enchantments and used a wordless Reviving Spell on the still unconscious head of the division.

"Mr Pilliwickle, are you alright sir?" she acted like she was concerned, though to be honest, she was a bit anyway. She didn't like cursing an innocent bystander. The man opened his eyes in confusion and seemed totally lost.

"Miss B-Boot?" he asked and she nodded politely. "W-what happened?" he asked softly. Tonks felt bad for having hurt the innocent man, but she convinced herself that in the long run, it was worth it. It was just a quick and simple stunner after all – if she was able to save even just one man during this war that would have died without her in the past then it meant nothing in comparison. Still, she would send him a gift basket or something when she had some money as a way of saying sorry. The man, after all, had done nothing wrong.

"You seemed to have blacked out for a moment sir. Are you feeling alright?" She really wanted to know if he was okay. The man seemed hesitant for a moment but then nodded.

"Yes, yes, of course. What can I do for you Miss Boot?" he asked and she thought of what to do. She could just erase his memory of the whole incident, but memory charms were always tricky not to be trifled with. He didn't seem to have noticed that anything was wrong, but then again who knew what would happen later. On the spot, she decided on a decision on a weak _Confundus Charm_. She didn't want to mess with his head, so it wasn't much, just a thought that he had a bad day and even worse headache. He should just go home and forget about everything that happened that day. He shuddered when the spell hit him which meant that her casting was successful.

"Oh, we already arranged what I came for, don't you remember Mr Pilliwickle? I just stayed because I was concerned for your health. You seem deathly pale. Maybe you should drink a Pepperup Potion and go home, sleep a bit," Tonks offered. "I must be on my way now; Miss Lufkin is in a foul mood as she had an incident with the DMGS," she explained.

"Of course, of course. Thank you for your concern, Miss Boot. Until next time," the old man offered and she smiled at him charmingly. She quickly but with caution exited the private office and then crossed the big one.

A young handsome wizard mouthed at her: "What happened with the Hag?" With a smile, she shook her head and motioned towards the door indicating that she had to go. He nodded with obvious disappointment. The moment she was out in the corridor she got going with the bathroom in mind as the destination. When she reached the first stall she was shaking with nerves. It was not like this was even close to the most dangerous situations she had ever been in, but if she got caught now, she might have messed up her entire life.

After all she would have been tossed into the arms of Unspeakables most probably and she had a feeling that if they weren't able to send her back to her real time in very little time then she would have been sent to Azkaban to be 'taken care of' under the pretence that there she probably couldn't mess up the timeline, but really, because they were afraid of her and what she could do. After this little mission attending Hogwarts with the Marauders sounded like great fun and a good laugh.

She morphed into the mousy little witch form she had used a few times while preparing for the day. She left the bathroom and she quickly made her way towards the lifts. There was a wizard waiting for the lifts there already – Arthur Weasley. It was great to see him up so close, he seemed a bit tired, but otherwise in good mood.

"Hello," he greeted her with a smile. Not surprisingly Arthur was the first one to pay her any attention in the Ministry.

"Hi. Going home already?" she tried to steer the conversation away from who she was. Of course, she could always lie, but Arthur was the type of person who actually paid attention to others, so he might find it odd if he never saw her around again. She didn't think that he would look more deeply into the question, but Mad-Eye always told her to leave so little loose ends behind as possible.

"No, no – sadly not. I'm just helping out at the Department of Magical Transportation with an odd case of a Muggle being tricked into using a Portkey. Such a mess," he said. "Oh, I'm Arthur Weasley from Misuse of Muggle Artefacts. And you?" he introduced himself, but she was spared from answering as the lift had just arrived and there were already a few people in the lift probably from Level 1, the offices of the Minister for Magic and its administration.

"Ah, Arthur," a little wizard no taller than Professor Flitwick cried out the moment he noticed the redheaded wizard and Tonks was spared from an interrogation where she would have to lie a lot to a dear friend. The short wizard started into an enthusiastic tale grabbing Arthur's attention. She knew thought that she was only temporarily saved from lying as she would have to do that the next day already as a few days prior she received a letter from Molly asking her to meet. Still, after all the sneaking around she had done the previous week it was great to lay low for a bit and not to have to lie and pretend.

Molly wrote to her:

 _Dear Dora,_

 _I hope you meant it and calling you Dora is alright. I admit not to have heard about your existence yet, but I'm glad you wrote to me and I'm very sorry for your loss. Nowadays there are so many bad news in our world that finding a lost family member seems to be exactly what we need. I'm glad you contacted me._

 _I was told though to be cautious exactly because the world we live in is dangerous, so if it is possible, I would like to meet you in a public place first. You seem like a delightful young lady, but I have three young children at home and I don't like inviting strangers into my house even if they are family. I hope you don't find it insulting, but my boys will always come first for me and I will do everything to keep them safe._

 _Would meeting at the Leaky Cauldron seem okay to you? If you are already living there, I thought it fitting and the easiest solution. How about ten o'clock on Saturday? My husband, Arthur, won't work then and we could all meet._

 _I hope to hear from you soon and can't wait to meet you._

 _Your cousin,_

 _Molly_

Tonks wasn't surprised that she wasn't invited to the Burrow – these were dark times, dangerous days. She was just glad that Molly was nice and obviously supported her idea of reaching out to her. It would take some time she figured, but she would win their support and trust. All the lying was not going to be easy, but she supposed it was for all of them. Maybe if she was to be in the Order she could even save Molly's brothers. She was also relieved that the owl seemed to have found her – or maybe it was because the letter was addressed to the pub, she wasn't sure.

She happily answered to Molly that Saturday was going to be perfect and she was going to wait for them downstairs and they could have a drink together while getting introduced. It was going to be nice to have some real human contact even if she had to lie and pretend to be Dora Turner (whoever she was). For the last week, she only exchanged a few pleasantries with Tom the landlord of the pub and maybe a 'hello' at the Ministry, though very few even seemed to notice her existence.

"Bye," she said goodbye to Arthur who waved, but otherwise he was still engaged by the little wizard who she thought was called Rupert by Arthur. The moment she was on the Atrium's level she felt completely free. She actually did it! Mad-Eye would be completely upset that she could just forge and make-up her entire existence without being even suspected, but for once it wouldn't be her he was angry with but everyone else instead. No, he would be proud of her for passing the greatest test – real life.

She couldn't help but smile as two wizards passed her who she vaguely recognized from DMLE (though not the Auror Office) and she heard their excited chatter about 'the barmy old hag' who was pranked and pissed off. She was actually pretty smug and proud of herself as everyone just assumed that the Hag got what she deserved instead of the DMLE being infiltrated. She really deserved those scores at Concealment and Disguise, but she was pretty sure that clumsiness or not she should have got at least a bit better ones on Stealth and Tracking.


	4. Arthur gets excited

**4\. Arthur gets excited**

 _or where badgers are appreciated and redheads meet_

Tonks was nervous and excited and for the first time in months, her hair reflected her mood swings – constantly changing. She was awfully happy to have her ability back as she felt rather unsettled without being able to morph, but she also realized that for the first time in her life she would have to actually keep it under control for longer periods of time. As Metamorphmagi was a very rare ability, she didn't want anyone to make the connection between her current form and the child-aged Nymphadora Tonks. She knew well that back in her present she was the only known one with the ability in Great Britain which was cool, but here it would look suspicious.

Then there was the fact that it would be hard to explain a Muggle-raised Metamorphmagus even if according to her story her Muggle mother was somewhat aware of her peculiarities from early on and she was rather sheltered from the world. Still, children with Metamorphmagi were rather dangerous to the Statute of Secrecy, so some awkward questions about her childhood would be asked she didn't want to answer. Not to mention that she had a feeling that the Ministry excursion was not going to be the last of the illegal incident she committed in the past so it would be better to keep some of her better cards in hand. Still, on long-term, she knew that it was too useful of a gift not to let know some people about it. She decided to keep it down for just for now. After all one day, she might even tell a selected few how Dora Turner came to be.

Still, as she watched her hair shifting between an odd yellow and a shaky but amusingly vibrant pink, she knew that it would certainly be a challenge to keep her ability a secret for the time being. She was usually controlled by her emotions, but from now on she needed to keep a firm hand on her feelings. From a young age she actually had a lot better control of her magic than it was usual for children, because of the conscious effort one needed to control morphing was not unlike the focus magic required, but as she was the type to wear her heart on her sleeves, she still frequently slipped up with her morphing.

She decided that what she needed to practice was Occlumency. Not only would a stronger mind shield protect her from everyone ready to look into her head, (and she knew of at least two talented Legilimens currently residing at Hogwarts, not even starting on evil dark wizards) but the basic idea behind magically closing one's mind was the ability to control one's emotions which practically equalled with a better grasp on her ability. Knowing Remus not to mention Sirius she would find herself in many situations in the foreseeable future where she just lost her cool – and then her hair always got redder every passing moment. As much as she cared for both damn fools, they were as annoying as one could get. So, she decided that the first thing she would do officially as Dorothea Turner was to buy 'Guide to Advanced Occlumency' by Maxwell Barnett.

However, at that moment her mind was elsewhere as she couldn't stop thinking about her first official meeting with Molly and Arthur. (She obviously needed Occlumency or she would drive herself crazy with thinking about the future constantly.) This was her first real challenge in the past. Running into Alice Longbottom was, of course, an enlightening moment, but while she knew of the young witch's tragic future, she didn't know her personally. She had seen Arthur around the Ministry, said hello to him and had exchanged two letters with Molly, but this was it, the big moment – facing them with the chosen face of Dora Turner, a face she hoped would not change for years to come and a name just as constant.

A face she was just creating. Standing before the mirror in the small bathroom of the Leaky Cauldron she changed bits, again and again, and tried to imagine exactly what face she was ready to wear for so long. She rarely changed her face in the first place – she liked the heart-shaped face she suspected was her natural form though with Metamorpmagi such thing as inherited physical traits were always harder to grasp – now she decided that it was time to shake things up.

She went on to reduce her height a bit first. As she was supposed to be only seventeen she could still get a bit taller if later on, she wished to. So, she ended up with 5 feet 4 inches. She retained her usual hourglass figure but decided on a more oval face. She knew that the three Prewetts siblings not unlike the Weasleys had red hair, but she wasn't exactly sure from which side (maternal or paternal) of Molly the colour came from. She supposed she could always say that her Muggle mother was a ginger if anyone was surprised by her new hair colour because it turned out her supposed ancestors on the magical side were not redheads.

She decided on a less vibrant red colour than the Weasleys – it was a more of a dark strawberry blonde, she supposed, but she would still consider herself a redhead. Surprising even herself a bit she ended up with long hair and curls. While she did have long hair once in a while at home too, she usually wore her hair no longer than shoulder-length, mostly sporting short spiky hair. This difference gave her a sense of change. It reminded her that she was no longer 'Don't-call-me-Nymphadora' Tonks, but Dora Turner. She had her hair in a simple braid which she hoped showcased the youthful innocence and vulnerability she was going for. She chose a straight nose and thin lips. She also gave herself some obligatory freckles and pale skin – after all, she was supposed to be a ginger and it was only April.

Last but not least she went through every existing shade (and probably impossible too) of eye colours but at the end, she settled for a hazel, because she didn't want to look too much like a Weasley (blue- or brown-eyed) or her future classmate, Lily Evans. (Harry had inherited those very green eyes of his from his mother, everyone always said.) Though, she nearly settled for a warm brown as Molly (the only Prewett she knew in person) had that, but she didn't want to look too much like Ginny either even if at this moment of time she was nothing other than a plan or an idea.

When one could change their appearance looking in the mirror was always a strange phenomenon as the face looking back could be just as unfamiliar as any on the streets. That's what she felt now, she felt like the girl looking back at her, innocent-looking and wide-eyed with pretty, big eyes shadowed by long eyelashes just didn't match the heart-broken and war-trained Auror. She had to praise her work though as she certainly looked the part of the poor lost girl alone in the big bad world.

She put on the standard black robe (as she literally had nothing else other than her Auror robes she arrived in) and the travelling cloak she arrived in to the past then she checked the time. It was only nine o'clock which meant that the Weasleys wouldn't arrive for another hour. As she was early she decided to take a quick trip to the Alley knowing that an entire hour without anything to do just waiting for Molly and Arthur would drive her mad. She quickly reassumed the look she sported at the pub so far and ended her stay there, only to change her look to the new chosen one and ask for another room now under the name of Dorothea Turner. (Until now she asked for a room calling herself Isadora Smith, another fake name she came up with during Auror training.)

While it was Saturday, it was only the end of April and it was also quite early so she wasn't surprised that very few were on the inviting street of the magical shopping quarter. She made her way towards the Second-Hand Bookshop. However, much to her irritation on the door the caption 'CLOSED' was visible. She let out a sigh. She couldn't find any indication when it would be open either.

"It will be open in an hour – opens at ten every day. I told old Bobby that he should have a sign with the opening hours, but does he listen to anyone? No. Never. Stubborn man." Tonks turned around to be faced with a familiar face. She knew that the shop right next to the second-hand shop was Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, so she wasn't surprised to be faced with a younger looking Florean. Only to her greatest amazement, it seemed the business was a bit different in the past as a different sign than she was used to, said Florean's Café. Then again now that she was trying to remember if she had ever seen that sign, she realized that she was pretty sure the first time she has ever visited Diagon Alley was in 1982 after the war had ended. With her mother being a blood traitor and her father a Muggle-born, one worse than the other in the Death Eaters' eyes, they lived very sheltered lives until the bad guy was gone.

"Flourish and Blotts is already open though," he said pointing in the general direction of the bookshop Tonks knew well.

"Sadly I only have enough money for the second-hand version of the book I'm looking for," she simply replied to the man who for a moment turned back to the little tables in front of his shop to supervise the sponges dancing across the surface. He was obviously getting ready to open the business as well.

"Fresh out of Hogwarts, huh? Haven't found a job yet?" he asked curiously. She decided to join him at the tables having nothing else to do now that she knew the shop she needed wouldn't open just yet. Back in her days she often had great conversations with the wizard. Not only was he a kind man, but had many interesting stories to share let it be about all the famous people he served with ice cream, or about his rich family history. He came from an old family he was proud of, but unlike the Death Eaters, he had nothing against those who had less of a family history.

"Still a student actually, so I hardly have a Knut to my name," she said with a simple shrug. Florean seemed surprised.

"I'm pretty sure the Easter holiday has already ended," he pointed out and while she had no idea when Easter was in 1977, she believed him. After all, during the holidays, there must have been countless Hogwarts students on the streets of the quarter not to be seen until the next one.

"Home-schooled, though I'm actually just going to join Hogwarts, that's why the need for books. The book list is a bit different than what I've learned from so far," she lied easily. He seemed rather interested in what she had just said.

"That's a pretty unique situation, I believe. I don't think we had anyone join in after the first year back when I was at good old Hogwarts. Have you been Sorted yet?" he asked curiously and she shook her head.

"No, but I hope for Hufflepuff – though, Gryffindor wouldn't be too bad either. I'm not stuffy enough for Ravenclaw and don't let me even start on Slytherin, that's just _so_ not me," she replied and he was obviously cheered up by her answer.

"Ah, an aspiring badger! The best of the lot – see, I'm a Puff myself, but so few see the beauty of a yellow-black tie. It's so nice to meet someone who understands the greatness of the house," he said with a grin. Tonks actually knew it already that the man would like her reply as in the future they bonded over the love of their house originally. "Or do you want to go there because of your family only?" His smile faltered when the thought occurred to him. "My family has mostly always been Ravenclaw so that's where I wanted to go before I realized Hufflepuff is the best house."

"No-no... Mum's a Muggle, Dad's a Squib. My Dad's family was mostly in Gryffindor with a few 'Claws in-between, I believe. I think I would be the first Puff around," she replied and that seemed to have cheered the man up immensely.

"Are you going to be seventeen by the summer holiday?" he asked off-handed like it was a random question.

"Already of age, my birthday has just passed," she simply said. When she came up with her story she made sure that she would already be seventeen so no one could question seeing her with a wand. After all, she certainly didn't have the Trace on her. Not to mention it befitted her story well with her coincidentally lying and hiding tutor, whose real name she didn't even know, abruptly fleeing the country after her non-existing mother's sudden death leaving her behind without even getting her enrolled into school or finding her a guardian and a place to live. He couldn't have done all that if she was underage, no mature adult with a little sense would.

"Great-great! Happy birthday then even if I'm a bit late with it. Don't you want a bit of a summer job, then? Last summer I came up with the idea of serving ice cream around here and it was an instant success with everyone! I feel like I'm going to need some help around for the upcoming summer holiday and thought of hiring a Hogwarts student," he explained. "With You-Know-Who gaining more and more power Diagon Alley seems less and less alive each day, but people need some cheering up and ice cream seems to be the answer for it." The offer was very tempting as Tonks was seriously in need of some income. She desperately hoped that if Dumbledore accepted her as a student, she would get some financial aid from the school, but as she was already of age, she couldn't be sure of it. She wasn't even sure how it usually worked as her parents always had enough money to support her when she was in school.

"I would love to, Mr Fortescue," she said and cringed when she realized that now his family's name was not advertised with great letters on the shop as in the future, but to her relief, he didn't seem to find it strange that she knew his surname. He smiled at her. "I'm Dorothea Turner, but just call me Dora," she offered her hand which he shook enthusiastically.

"It is very nice to meet you, Dora. Come around the first day of the holiday then and we can sort out your employment. I hope you are good with charms because you will need that." She reassured him that she was taking Charms on N.E.W.T. level which he seemed to like a lot.

"Exactly what I needed! The job is most certainly yours. What a lucky day," he said and then they started chatting about what she could expect to do at the café and what type of spells one needed to run a business like this. Before she knew it was already quarter to ten.

"Oh, I must be going Mr Fortescue. I'm meeting some family at the pub at ten – we are actually sorting out my enrolment at Hogwarts," she told him.

He enthusiastically said good-bye to her and she once again thanked him for the job offer. It was not like she had much to do during the summer holiday after all. She wasn't even sure where she would spend it. Would she make some so good friends in such a short time that she would be offered a place at their house? Would the Weasleys ask her to stay at the Burrow? If neither happened then she would have to stay at the Leaky Cauldron which meant paying every day for having a bed to sleep in, so she surely needed some money.

She was a few minutes early to the pub, so she took place at one of the tables a bit farther away from the rest in hope of having the 'family reunion' in peace and quiet. Times were getting darker and darker, as no matter the fact that it was a nice Saturday morning, very few were around, so she found such place quite easily.

Then she noticed them. The couple anxiously looked around in the dimly lit pub and Molly visibly brightened when Tonks got up from her chair to introduce herself. The young couple was rather dashing, she found. She already noticed when she met Arthur in the Ministry how much he looked like his sons, (most rather good-looking) but as they approached her it actually surprised her greatly – he especially looked like an older Ron around Bill's age. With his tall, thin build and vibrant blue eyes hidden behind glasses, he could have fit right in the brunch of Weasley children Tonks knew in her time. Arthur greatly reminded her of a Percy-tempered Bill with Ron's easy smile. The family resemblances didn't stop there as younger Molly and future Ginny was very alike as well.

The Molly Weasley she knew was a plump woman, but this version of her seemed just womanly and curvy, though equally short. She was far from thin and underfed, but her shape just reminded Tonks that by now she birthed three children. Her hair was a bit shorter than Ginny's, but still a lot longer than she had ever seen her with and it was in a complicated bun. However, her eyes didn't change at all – the same warm brown eyes studied her that she was used to and which Ginny most certainly inherited.

Tonks took a step forward and they stopped in front of her. Molly was wearing a pretty periwinkle-coloured robe, she noticed.

"Hello, Mrs Weasley, Mr Weasley," Tonks said anxiously playing a character and at the same time feeling the anxiety too. She automatically touched a piece of her hair checking that it still remained how she styled it no matter the emotional upheaval she was feeling.

"Oh, none of that nonsense," Molly said and she hugged Tonks tightly. If she didn't know Molly then she would have certainly been surprised and frozen, but instead, she readily embraced the woman. She supposed if anyone ever questioned her about her reaction, she could just say how thankful she was that someone seemed ready to help her out when her whole world had been shaken.

"It's Molly dear and this is my husband Arthur," she said when she let Tonks go. Tonks offered her hand, but surprisingly Arthur hugged her too even if it was a rather quick hug compared to Molly's.

"It's so nice to meet you," she beamed. "Just call me..." she stumbled over her words nearly saying 'Tonks', but luckily catching the stray thought before it became reality. "Dora." She decided on the name of Dorothea simply, because she didn't want to risk a name ending with 'Dora', but she still wanted to keep at least one of her nicknames. Sadly as much as she liked being called Tonks, it just didn't work here with her family being notorious blood traitors running a perfect pure-blood lineage.

"Oh, such a beauty," Molly said with obvious glee after Tonks prompted them to sit down at the table. Molly and Arthur sat next to each other on one side while she was on the other side facing them. "A redhead too!" she beamed. Tonks took that as a clue that she didn't seriously mess it up when she didn't research more throughout how her supposed relatives looked like.

"Now, now, Molly dear, don't frighten the poor girl with your fussing," Arthur said good-naturedly. At that moment while she felt awful for lying to such amazing people as Molly and Arthur, she was just glad to see them and couldn't keep a wide smile off her face. They certainly didn't disappoint her. It seemed their personalities didn't change much in twenty years.

"It's more than okay, believe me. It's been a while since anyone fussed over me," she muttered while blushing a bit on purpose. Indeed her last week was terribly lonely so she was glad to have such great company now.

"So, tell me Dora – you grew up in the Muggle world, right?" Arthur now faced her with bright eyes and she nodded with a shy smile knowing exactly where this was going, but she also knew Dora Turner wouldn't. "Brilliant!" he cried out. "Molly, how amazing is that?" he asked and he leaned forward to probably start on his hordes of questions, but at the same moment Tom arrived and they ordered some butterbeer.

Molly shot Arthur a look that suggested his questions were not welcomed just now and then turned towards Tonks with a bright motherly smile which warmed Tonks' heart. These two might not yet know her and they were younger versions of the people she knew (not much older than Tonks herself), but they were still the same lovable pair any sane person could only like and that made her very happy no matter the odd circumstances and all the lying.

"Pardon us – Arthur here works in the Ministry, at the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office and is always excited when he meets someone who understands a great deal about the Muggle world," Molly explained with a somewhat amused and somewhat awkward smile as if she never knew how to handle her husband's fascination with Muggles and their technology, but loved him anyway. Tonks was very glad that her father was a proud Muggle-born. While she grew up in a magical household she certainly knew more about Muggles than it was usual for non-Muggle-raised half-bloods and especially pure-bloods. Her knowledge was not on the level of someone truly raised by Muggles, but she was pretty sure that she knew enough to keep Arthur satisfied.

"It's totally fine – I'm just glad you don't find my background... discouraging," she hesitantly said knowing that even someone as sheltered as she made out Dora Turner would by seventeen understand that a Muggle upbringing was not favoured in the wizarding world – especially as her only connection to the said world was through a Squib. It made 'Dora Turner' technically a half-blood as two of her grandparents were not only magical, but pure-bloods too, but she was still something of an abomination, a disgrace in the eyes of pure-blood maniacs.

"Of course not, honey. I'm just a bit upset I haven't learned about your existence sooner," Molly replied and Tonks smiled at her. Yes, choosing the Weasleys as her supposed connection to the wizarding world was the best thing she could have done, she decided. "Now, why don't you tell us a bit more about yourself? How are your studies going? What do you like to do in your free time?"

"I got ten O.W.L.s and out of those grades three were Outstanding, so I was pretty happy with that," she said and the reaction was automatic – both of them started praising her and telling her how smart she must be.

"Do you have any idea what you would like to do once you have your N.E.W.T.s?" Arthur asked curiously. Tonks leaned a bit back and started playing with a curl of her hair that escaped from the braid. The movement itself wasn't really her she supposed, but she hoped that it gave her a younger air.

"Yes, I would like to become an Auror," she simply replied though with much fondness. It was not an easy job and certainly not for everyone. Not to mention that it was quite often far from rewarding (especially when one had some awfully thick bosses who for example denied the rebirth of the greatest dark wizard), but it was something that just fitted her, something she couldn't help but love, she supposed. She couldn't really imagine anything else even now that she literally had another chance to choose.

She noticed that both Weasleys seemed surprised by her answer. "Oh my, that's such a dangerous job, are you sure Dora?" Molly started fretting already, but Arthur put her hand on hers and looked in her eyes.

"Darling, she is an adult. I'm sure she knows what she wants – right, Dora? Do you have any questions about the job or the training? As I work for the Department of Law Enforcement I could ask around for you if you need any more information," Arthur offered. She often wondered how unfair it was that people like the Weasleys couldn't afford anything when the Malfoys were bathing in money. Poor Arthur was treated like dirt at the Ministry, shoved into a broom closet and probably doing the job of a dozen wizards for the salary of half of a usual employee's just because his job was to protect Muggles from the magical community. The Weasleys certainly deserved more, they were so good people.

For a long moment, she was unable to answer because she was once again stunned by their kindness even though having known them closely for nearly two years, she most certainly expected it. She was just an estranged second cousin or even less who they have just met and yet the couple was already trying to help her with everything and treating her like family. While here she was literally an impostor lying to them. It was an awful feeling. She hated using the Weasleys even if she loved spending time with them – very bittersweet combination.

"Thank you, but I'm certain – there just never has been another job for me. Though I would love to be a professional Quidditch player, sadly I'm just not a great player," she replied. "Maybe you could get me some talent?" she joked. They could surely spare some with most of their children spending years on the Quidditch team. She remembered how disappointed many were when Charlie went 'chasing dragons' instead of joining a team out of school. She was also fairly certain that if the war ended Ginny could end up as an awesome Chaser on any of the league teams.

"I'm not certain we can help with that," Arthur said after he chuckled. His face turned serious. "We could help you with getting some education. I'm guessing you don't want to prepare for your N.E.W.T.s without any help, right?" he asked and she nodded. "We thought that the easiest and probably the cheapest solution would be for you to just finish your education at Hogwarts just as it was suggested to you by your tutor. Would you be willing to do that?" he asked a bit uncertainly.

"Most certainly – it would be of course... different than what I'm used to, but maybe that's exactly what I just need now that my life has turned upside down in a moment." Tonks found it especially funny that she was a hundred per cent truthful just now. Pretending to be seventeen again and going to school would be very strange for her as she was a qualified Auror after all and her life has certainly changed completely the second she ended up in the past. They would just think she meant going to a big school after being home-schooled and suddenly being left alone when all her life she was so close to her mother and her tutor.

"Then if you want we could get it all sorted out for you. I know that you are legally an adult in the magical community, but I thought until you are out of school Arthur and I could help you in certain matters," Molly explained. This was exactly what she wanted.

"Yes, I would be so grateful... I feel a bit lost... In theory, I know a lot about the wizarding world, but in reality, I feel like a first-year Muggle-born student," she explained while turning her cheeks a bit red as if she was blushing. Though in reality she really felt a bit like that – she was most certainly not used to how things were in the seventies and how everyone she knew didn't know her.

"Oh, darling, we will help you with everything. You might even start school as early as Monday, I believe. I'm certain Professor Dumbledore – the headmaster of Hogwarts as I'm sure you know – won't have any problems with accepting your application if we talk to him." That would mean that by 2nd May she could be a Hogwarts student. She liked the sound of that.

"Thank you – for everything, really. When I thought of writing to you I couldn't even imagine that you could be so nice to me," she said emotionally. She knew the Weasleys well enough that she was certain they wouldn't just ignore her, but still, it was amazing how accepting and helpful they were. At that moment she found it odd how they were Gryffindors and not Hufflepuffs, they could certainly fit right in with the Badgers as even in the den, not all were as good as these two.

"Oh sweetheart, everyone needs someone to lean on – especially at such a young age as yours," Molly said softly and Tonks was reminded of how much the older woman always cared for Harry as well, the boy whose own relatives just ignored him and hardly had anyone growing up. She now understood that Molly had a soft spot for those who didn't have others to care for them and she was glad that it seemed that Molly wanted to be there for her and help her as well just as she did when Remus broke her heart.

"Then I'm glad to have found you," she muttered truthfully. She just felt at that moment that she didn't deserve their love. She hoped that one day she would be able to repay for their kindness in some way.


	5. McGonagall gives life advice

**5\. McGonagall gives life advice**

 _or where Tonks gets schooled and McGonagall loves sob stories_

The moment she faced Professor McGonagall, Tonks realized that what seemed like the easiest solution to all her problems was actually a pretty messed up web of ideas and nothing more than crafty lies. It was seeing her ex-teacher in a way she never had before that suddenly enlightened her – her plan was not only half-baked but it was full of plot holes too.

The day after she met the Weasleys at two to twelve McGonagall appeared in the pub after a simple letter that morning informing Tonks of the planned visit. McGonagall's hair was in the usual tight bun, glasses on her nose and a focused expression on her face. She was even wearing dark green as she often did in the future, but she was so young, Tonks could hardly recognize her. If she was not awaiting the professor's arrival she probably wouldn't have recognized her. She supposed plus twenty years of dealing with troublemakers and two wars could mess up one's appearance. Tonks felt a bit guilty though, because her own behaviour at school certainly didn't help McGonagall's nerves and thus wrinkles.

Her professor's young appearance shouldn't have freaked her out as she had seen quite a few of her close friends in the past already, but it did. Tonks always associated McGonagall with Hogwarts in a way she didn't do it with her Head of House, Prof Sprout or even Dumbledore. She supposed it was because McGonagall was not only the head teacher of one of the houses but the Deputy Headmistress too. However, unlike Dumbledore she wasn't a leader outside of the school, a political force to be reckoned with hence the feeling of her being part of Hogwarts. Seeing her when she looked so different reminded Tonks that even Hogwarts has changed.

It was one thing she now existed on paper under the name of Dorothea Turner and a completely different one that in about a year's time she would be trusted by Dumbledore and the Marauders. Her professor's appearance was like a knife sliding right through Tonks's vulnerable heart. It was the painful and sharp feeling of _knowing_ , no, more than that, _understanding_ that this Hogwarts was not the Hogwarts she knew and loved. Merlin's pants, damn, she wasn't supposed to even know any Hogwarts! On paper until now she has always been home-schooled. She shouldn't even have a picture of McGonagall in her mind. Officially this was the first time she and the Transfiguration professor met.

Once again she felt utterly alone in the world. Yesterday after having met the Weasleys she thought for a moment that no matter the lies she told she still belonged somewhere. Her parents may have another version of her not even knowing that their adult daughter was here as well, her friends might be not the wiser that they were supposed to like her, and she might not have her beloved job, but all she needed was a bit of time and it would all get sorted out. Maybe she wouldn't have her parents back when they had tiny Dora to fawn over, but she could get friends (even if some of her old ones weren't even born yet) and she could become an Auror all over again. Now though – now she felt that those were just enthusiastic and hopeful but totally unrealistic ideas and not the reality.

In reality she was a big liar who charmed her way into the Weasley family's life and was planning to do the same with the unsuspecting students of Hogwarts. If she ever got close to the Marauders as she hoped to do would it be because they genuinely liked her or because she knew exactly the lies and tales they would fall for and wanted to hear? She could never be just Tonks around them, she would always have to hold back her automatic answers and think every word through so she could be Dora Turner. Shielded Muggle-raised Dora Turner was not fun-loving adventurer Tonks.

Even if Remus fell in love with her again would his gentle whisper of 'Dora' make her heart go wild or would she just feel empty knowing that the Dora he knew and loved was not the real one just a shadow of her formed by carefully crafted lies? The reality was that she made up a family history and with it a new name and appearance, but Dorothea Turner could never be Nymphadora Tonks because of the different background. Her new face and name was no different than plenty she had during her training as Auror, and it certainly was no more than carefully planned and executed trickery. Maybe she tricked the Weasleys or even every freaking owl in this damn country, but that didn't make her Dora Turner, and that hurt, because she couldn't be Tonks either. There already had existed a Don't-call-me-Nymphadora Tonks in this moment of time before she had arrived.

"Professor McGonagall, it's a pleasure to meet you," she said pleasantly as she approached the professor, though she felt sick to the stomach. Still, when you had a thousand faces and you frequently took on other people's you learned to fake some facial expressions. The professor acknowledged her and then she requested to sit down. The two of them sat at the same out of the way table she occupied the day before when she met the Weasleys. That thought made her even queasier as the fact, that she had already won over two nice people here only to bring another to trick, was eating her alive.

"Miss Turner, I must say that your situation is rather unusual, but the Headmaster feels that it is our school's task and responsibility to make sure every witch and wizard in Great Britain gets the opportunity to acquire magical knowledge, so he sees no reason why you should not join our sixth year students," McGonagall explained and Tonks' heart started racing. It seemed so far everything had worked out perfectly. This fact would have made Tonks utterly happy only a few minutes before, but now she felt like even bigger of a liar. She wasn't just able to trick the Ministry and the Weasleys, but it seemed everyone at Hogwarts too. It all worked out in her favour, but she wasn't sure now if it meant that things were good for Tonks or Turner anymore. Also, a traitorous part of her mind warned her that indeed things were going just too well, but she knew that it was no moment for such bad thoughts. She would have years to feel anxious about the future after all and second-guess all her steps.

She felt awful for tricking even more good people like Dumbledore and McGonagall, even if she supposed she meant no harm to anyone (who wasn't evil and on the bad side of a stupid war started for even stupider reasons), she only wanted to help after all. She knew that she understood the future in a way they wouldn't if she was to tell them everything just now. She needed a bit of time to find her footing in the past and see how things were. She promised that one day she would come clean to them though. However, it didn't make her heart ache any less, because until then every relationship she had was based on lies. Could she ever even form a real friendship with anyone when she knew that on her part even the most basic pieces of information were nothing more than a well-crafted tale? In the future when she told them the whole truth would she lose everything she held dear?

"I must warn you, Miss Turner that catching up with the other students might not be the easiest, though I am pleased that your O.W.L. scores suggest a keen mind and a willingness to work hard," McGonagall praised her which Tonks had to admit that she loved no matter the circumstances. As even though she got the same grades in her own time, she most certainly did not receive any good words for them from her teachers, because of her 'inability to behave' as her Head of House, Professor Sprout liked to voice every other week if not day.

She supposed it was her own fault, but she still felt that it was unfair as she knew well that Remus was a troublemaker himself at school and yet all his teachers loved him! (She supposed it all came down to comparisons – next to the rest of the Marauders Remus seemed like an angel while compared to hard-working and nice Hufflepuffs Tonks was the devil reborn. It was unfair though when one of the basic qualities of Hufflepuff was supposed to be fairness!)

"That won't be a problem, professor. I promise I will work hard to catch up with my studies," she answered politely, though her thoughts were still mostly on her recent realization of how her life was now nothing more than a carefully woven web of lies and how it didn't even mean her plans were going to work. She could be dead within the year with no one even knowing her or caring about her death. It was an awful thought that just about made her flee to Dumbledore asking for any way to have her back in her own time where there were many people who loved her.

However, a part of her did process what McGonagall was saying and she concluded that maybe this time around McGonagall wouldn't look at her like she was a ticking bomb ready to blow everyone up as she did through Tonks's seven years at Hogwarts. That was a nice twist of fate, she supposed. She liked McGonagall after all. It was rather ironic though as during her school years she was a troublemaker but certainly not dangerous while here she was playing with the fate of the entire wizarding world. She was literally a ticking bomb in this time period, so compared to that she was an angel back at school.

"I'm glad to hear, Miss Turner. Then we first need to talk about the classes you wish to take. Do you have any ideas what you would like to do after school, Miss Turner?" she asked professionally and Tonks nodded. It was funny how at the same table she was asked the same questions with only a day difference. The answer didn't change of course as it was something she pretty much always wanted to do. She could hardly remember a time when she was asked this question and she didn't have the same answer.

"I would like to become an Auror, professor," she answered truthfully. McGonagall looked at her for a long moment and then she glanced at the parchments she had in front of her on the table. Tonks wondered for a moment if McGonagall was thinking of the upcoming war. After all, she was certain that by this point her professor would know that a war was inevitable as McGonagall was far from stupid and unobservant. She had a feeling that her ex-but-also-future professor was not happy with her choice of work and was afraid of the danger she would be in. Tonks was not really a student anymore so behind the facade of the unmovable strict professor she saw the softie who always worried for the safety of the students.

"Do you have any questions about the job?" she asked eventually and Tonks shook her head. She probably knew better than the professor what came with the job. Then again it was nothing against McGonagall, Tonks was just part of the Auror Office long enough to know how things went around there even if she was stuck in the past so things were bound to be somewhat different. Not to mention that Tonks knew the history of the wizarding world well enough that the war was upon them and she knew what all that meant for the Auror Office while McGonagall surely couldn't have the same knowledge. No, McGonagall knew that a war was on the corner, maybe already knocking on the door violently, but she couldn't exactly understand yet what that meant. Tonks was saddened by the fact that no matter what she did in the past McGonagall would soon experience the war with everything it entailed.

"Then we need to talk about the classes you have to take. To be able to apply for the Auror training you will need at least five N.E.W.T.s and they must not be lower than E as grades, though Os are preferred of course. I usually suggest Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, Herbology and of course Defence Against the Dark Arts to the students interested in joining the Auror Department. As I see you have achieved an Outstanding in Transfiguration, Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts I believe you will want to continue those – what other subjects would you like to take?"

Tonks supposed this might be how things usually went at Career Advice for Gryffindors. Her own Career Advice with Sprout was rather interesting as it consisted of Sprout telling her off for about thirty minutes straight after a circa two minutes long conversation about the Auror training and the classes and grades she needed. Then again in defence of Sprout there was that hilariously successful prank not to mention her involvement with the school mysteries around the time so she nearly drove her Head of House mad. No surprise that the woman thought she needed some 'advice' on everything else but her future job. Plus the only thing Sprout never complained about was Tonks's grades. Sprout was never satisfied with Tonks's work morale, saying that she was just not hard-working enough for Hufflepuff, but she couldn't exactly complain about the grades Tonks received. Sprout actually often complained that Tonks had the attitude of a Gryffindor with the brain of a Ravenclaw, so she had no idea how Tonks could be a Hufflepuff.

Honestly until she was faced with seventeen-year-old Sirius and Remus she herself was not entirely certain of her placement either. At school she had friends from practically all of the other houses and many of those teased her for showing qualities of their houses instead of hers. At the pub though, after she conversed with Alice Longbottom it all made sense to her.

"Yes, you are right. I would like to also take Charms, Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures." She didn't need to think much about it. She just she listed off the classes she was willing to sit through again. Last time around she had six N.E.W.T. classes as well, but instead of Care of Magical Creatures she took Arithmancy as her sixth class. However, she wanted a bit of a challenge (it was bad enough that she had to repeat all her other classes) and she thought the class might be useful as well in the future. She chose to replace that class as she found the others more important in her future line of work.

McGonagall stared at her for a long moment and then she nodded. She reached for another parchment and then after a moment of concentration, she tapped her wand on it two times without ever uttering a word. Then she passed the parchment to Tonks who studied it curiously and realized that it was a personalized supply list fitting her own demands and strange situation.

 _HOGWARTS SCHOOL  
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_

UNIFORM

All students will require:

1\. Three sets of plain work robes (black)

2\. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

3\. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

4\. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

Please note that all students' clothes should carry name-tags at all times.

COURSE BOOKS

A copy of each of the following is required for the chosen N.E.W.T. level classes:

 _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6_ by Miranda Goshawk

 _Advanced Potion-Making_ by Libatius Borage

 _Confronting the Faceless_ by Arsenius Jigger

 _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ by Newt Scamander

 _A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration_ by Emeric Switch

 _Flesh-Eating Trees of the World_ by Phyllida Spore

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set of glass or crystal phials

1 set of brass scales

Students may also bring an Owl OR a Cat OR a Toad.

"Thank you professor," Tonks said softly. It only occurred to her now that other than the clothes she appeared in she had one black robe, her wand and hardly any more remaining money. The money she had would be enough for some of the things she needed to buy, but certainly not all of them. After all she didn't possess for example any supply for Potions class where she would need a cauldron, phials, a scales and ingredients as well. McGonagall must have noticed her expression, because she cleared her throat.

"When students need it Hogwarts can offer a stipend. It's not enough to seriously support you financially as you are off age and according to the Ministry regulations that means a lower financial aid no matter the fact that you are still school-aged, but you could buy the missing pieces from your supply list with it." With pretty much nothing to her name Tonks would have preferred the whole stipend, but honestly she was happy she was even offered something. She wasn't sure what she would have done without the money. Wing it without the supplies and hope no one noticed it?

"Thank you, professor. That would certainly be a big help. I admit my mother struggled with the finances of being a single parent but since her death it has become even harder to support myself. I thought about simply getting a job, but she made me promise to finish my studies..." She let the helplessness she felt currently really take hold of her for a moment which she knew made her sob story a whole lot more believable. Based on McGonagall's expression which softened for a second it certainly worked. Great, she was an amazing liar, she thought sarcastically. She supposed that was a useful skill in her current predicament, but combined with the sudden dark thoughts the realization only saddened her.

"Hogwarts is more than a school Miss Turner, I hope you won't forget that once you join it," McGonagall offered as an answer which puzzled Tonks. She thought that as an adult who worked closely with the teacher thanks to the Order she had the Transfiguration professor all figured out, but McGonagall could still surprise her.

"Whatever do you mean, professor?" she asked curiously, really not faking her answer and expression at all for the first time since re-meeting the professor. McGonagall pressed her lips together, but a small smile still lingered on the edge of her lips.

"You have been left rather alone Miss Turner, but I want you to know that what I can offer you is more than some exams that would help you get a good job. You can find anything you need and look for at Hogwarts, I can assure you." Tonks wondered what McGonagall thought she wanted and needed. Family, perhaps? She knew that there were students who wanted to escape their childhood homes and found more than a school when they arrived at Hogwarts after all. Her own cousin, Sirius was just like that and of course poor Harry who was raised by those horrid Muggles. She supposed McGonagall might have just meant that no matter the fact that she started out so late she could still find friends at Hogwarts and not just finish her studies. There was much to be found at Hogwarts, she knew that. For example Remus found the acceptance he always longed for at school. She always loved listening to his stories about his years at Hogwarts, because there was no denying how fond he looked even just remembering a fun moment or two.

She still found McGonagall's wording strange and for a short moment she wondered if maybe, just maybe her professor somehow saw through the act. She dismissed the idea though because if McGonagall even suspected her then this conversation would have turned sour a long time ago. These were dangerous times after all, no one trusted anyone and McGonagall was famous for worrying for her students. If the professor suspected Tonks of being anything other than an orphan wanting to finish her schooling she would have already been in the hands of Aurors being sentenced for a lifetime at Azkaban.

"Anything I need? That's a rather hard promise to keep, isn't it?" she prompted the professor whose expression once again softened and she even sported a small smile.

"Miss Turner, try to think about Hogwarts as a solution to all your problems and not just some place where boring old professors tell you things you could read in any textbook anyways. You are a bright student after all," McGonagall offered and now Tonks couldn't help but frown, because this McGonagall certainly didn't remind her of the teacher who blamed Tonks for half of her gray hairs and wrinkles. She supposed Dorothea Turner had a lot more heart-breaking background than Nymphadora Tonks, but the difference in tone still made no sense to her. Was McGonagall so taken by her dead mother and being orphaned story that she offered life advice?

After a long moment of complete confusion she was enlightened. She supposed that in context it all made sense. She attended school originally during peace time while as Dora Turner she was just about to enter a world that hated her guts just because of her family story. McGonagall might have been taken by her sob story, but what made the biggest difference was the timing. Being alone in the wizarding world in 1970s from a shaky Muggle background was not a life insurance and certainly not the recipe for a happy and bright future. She represented everything the Death Eaters hated. She supposed that should have frightened her, but honestly that was true for Nymphadora Tonks too and it wasn't like she wasn't planning to fight.

"Why all these advice?" she wondered loudly and for a moment McGonagall remained silent and looked away. When she met Tonks's eyes again she replied promptly.

"You are an adult by our laws Miss Turner and I won't insult your intelligence by paltering. I'm sure you understand how day by day darkness rises around us." Tonks nodded when McGonagall paused for a moment. "I want you to see Hogwarts as the brightest ray of hope. Even the school has been touched by the darkness already, but it is still an island of peace compared to the rest of the magical community in Britain. Don't ever forget even for a moment what is going on outside of the castle walls, but enjoy the time you still have inside of it, protected."

"I understand Professor McGonagall, but that still doesn't answer your previous comment's meaning. How could Hogwarts be the answer to all my problems?" she asked curiously. She was happy that the professor didn't keep quiet about the upcoming war, but the fact that Hogwarts was never directly attacked during the first war didn't mean the school could solve all her problems. After all the biggest problem she had was winning the war itself, this time hopefully getting rid of that pest that called himself 'Lord Voldemort' once and for all.

Once again for a moment McGonagall remained silent. Tonks was wondering if the professor was trying to find the best words or if she just didn't really have an answer and she just read too many fortune cookies in her free time. The second didn't sound much like McGonagall though so Tonks hoped that her professor would answer her. She supposed she needed all the advice she could get. She was just about to change history after all with very limited knowledge on how that could be done.

"Since I have walked in, you have looked troubled, Miss Turner, pained even. I do not know you well enough to know the reasons for your pain, but Hogwarts is the very essence of magic. Magic can't solve all our problems, cannot bring back those we have lost and so on, but you can find solution to all your problems at Hogwarts that could be solved by magic." McGonagall's answer was simple, far from life-changing, because Tonks knew already how special the castle was. However, it did make her realize that so far she only included Hogwarts into her plans to get closer the important pieces of the chess game that was the First Wizarding War when in fact the school was much more than a meeting place where she could get into the game. She could certainly bring up quite a few cases from the future where Hogwarts was in the focus of the brewing war. Could she maybe find more at the castle than familiarity with the Marauders?

"Sadly, ma'am, I don't think most problems can be just solved with a swish of one's wand," she replied after a moment of silence. She decided to give some more thought to McGonagall's advice though. She already knew that many of the key players to the game were currently at Hogwarts such as Dumbledore or Snape and the Marauders. However, she supposed a castle filled with magical artefacts and long lost magical knowledge could prove to be useful too. She was also going to have the boys who knew the castle more than anyone else on her side hopefully. Maybe, just maybe, she could find something game-changing in the castle. A part of her was less than hopeful though as Dumbledore himself never found anything... She idly wondered if the Marauders or Dumbledore himself knew the castle's secret more. It had to be Dumbledore, right?

McGonagall nodded swiftly. "You are right of course, Miss Turner. Still, try to enjoy your time at school and learn as much as possible." Tonks wondered if McGonagall was strictly speaking about the school curriculum when she mentioned learning. Something about the look her professor gave her suggested more than that. She supposed McGonagall understood how much of a target she was as a child of a Squib and a Muggle, and hoped that she learned some useful skills at school that would keep her alive in the upcoming war. Tonks on the other hand wondered what she might learn at Hogwarts that could help her win the war and that she hadn't learn in the seven years she originally attended the school.

At that moment she decided to put her fears aside for just now. She was going to take McGonagall's advice and focus on learning as much as she could at Hogwarts including trying to find what she needed at the school. She had a bit more than a school year to find answers to all her burning questions. She was ready to head to Hogwarts and when she told McGonagall just that for the first time with proper excitement, her ex but soon future professor offered her a genuine wide smile.

"Then it is my pleasure, Miss Turner to greet you as the newest student of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."


	6. The Sorting Hat knows things

**6\. The Sorting Hat knows things**

 _or where Tonks becomes a Hogwarts student and the Sorting Hat is a prat_

At the end of her meeting with Professor McGonagall it was decided that her Hogwarts carrier would start the next day, on Monday morning, leaving enough time to use the newly acquired stipend to buy the necessities. The money was certainly not enough to buy anything newly, but added to the money she had left still, it was enough to get most of the stuff she needed from second-hand shops. She wasn't upset at all with the lack of possessions, as the school year was nearly already over, and with the money she earned during her summer job she could get some more stuff for next year.

Charms was never her best subject, but she liked it generally, the big exception being household spells, so she didn't even try packing using her wand. She practically tossed the few belongings into the old and weathered luggage she bought and imagined the reaction to the action of the people she missed the most. The teasing smile on the edge of Remus's mouth and the huffing and puffing her mother would surly do while her father placed his hand on his upset wife's arm reaching for her wand, trying to calm her down. So far being in the past was lot like being on an undercover mission, but after only eleven days she already felt homesick. Probably the fact that she was never going to really get home again was finally sinking in.

She decided to push the negative feelings aside for now though and focus on her mission. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She pressed the air out of her lungs slowly and carefully, as if controlling her breath would control the mess of emotions leaving her breathless as well. She took another deep breath and this time she let all the air out at once with a big sigh opening her eyes. Focus. Going to Hogwarts was indeed an undercover mission for her after all where she was supposed to form some alliances and acquire useful information and skills.

None of the breathing tactics worked quite as successfully as Occlumency though. She only had time to briefly look into her newly bought second-hand version of _Guide to Advanced Occlumency_ , but the technics she remembered from her half-ass attempt of learning this art of mind magic before were enough to push aside the disturbing thoughts that have been plaguing her since seeing the Transfiguration professor. Emptying one's head of such thoughts was not a final solution to solve the conflicting and complex feelings, but it did give her some space and time just to focus on more pressing matters – and there were many of those. She had to have a game plan. Honestly though she had no idea where to even start. Between shopping, packing and practicing Occlumency to her horror it was eight o'clock on Monday morning before she even had the time to sit down and try to come up with any ideas of what to do.

While the fireplaces at Hogwarts were not generally linked to the Floo Network for mostly security reasons, McGonagall said that the one in her office would be temporarily attached to the network just for the sake of an easy arrival to the school. Tonks was pleased with the arrangement as sitting on the Hogwarts Express alone for nearly a day would be far from fun. So, on the morning of the 2nd May in 1977 she was ready to restart her Hogwarts experience. She tossed some of the Floo powder into the fireplace at the pub and stepped into the green flames with the luggage she had previously charmed so it would be easier to move. She announced her destination as clearly as possible and most certainly with more confidence than she was supposed to possess as a shielded Muggle-raised student, who hardly never had the chance to use this way of magical travel, but she did not want to be tricked by the Floo Network.

She stumbled out of the large fireplace into a small study that belonged to Professor McGonagall not at all gracefully. It didn't look any different than how she remembered it from her days at Hogwarts. As McGonagall was not her Head of House she didn't spend as much time in this office as at Sprout's, but she still has been around for a few rounds of detention. What had changed the most about the office was its owner, really – Professor McGonagall's youthful face once again startled Tonks even though not a day has passed since they met. The Transfiguration professor was standing by the big desk that took up much of the space. Today she was wearing Gryffindor colours which Tonks found odd as well. She didn't remember ever seeing the professor in such shrill shades even if red and gold were her house colours.

"Miss Turner, it's a pleasure to see you again," McGonagall greeted her pleasantly, and Tonks smiled.

"You too, professor," she replied, and it felt good not to have to lie. No matter the fact that this was not the McGonagall she knew, it was still a version of the professor. This was not yet the professor she was in the Order with, but she was already the strict teacher who had a caring heart and a soft spot when it came to her students. In a twist of fate, Tonks was once again one of those students.

"I'm not sure how much you know of Hogwarts's traditions, but as a new student you have to be Sorted in a House. As a N.E.W.T. student you'll share your classes with all the other houses, but you'll sleep in your house's dormitory and spend your free time at your house's common room." Tonks nodded along.

"I have read _Hogwarts: A History_ , professor, so I know all about the House system," she replied though it was most certainly a lie. Back in her own time as Tonks she would have never be caught dead reading that book. However, between having friends at school like Rowan always mentioning that book and then meeting Remus and Hermione, she knew enough of the contents of it that she wouldn't be called out on the lie.

It was only a second later though that she wondered if the book was even published in the seventies. She only relaxed when a small smile appeared on the edge of McGonagall's lips clearly impressed. Once she relaxed for not messing it up already on her first day she remembered Remus mentioning it, how he had read the book countless times as a child when he thought he would never get into Hogwarts and she cursed herself for freaking out over nothing. She decided that she should take a quick trip to the library and check out the selection before she brought up books that haven't been written yet. She was never a bookworm type, but she certainly needed to have some grasp on the popular books of the seventies if she was to befriend Remus once again.

"Do you know how the Sorting is done?" McGonagall asked with something akin mirth in her voice. Tonks looked around the small office because she had a feeling the Sorting Hat was there somewhere. Indeed, the sentient hat was sitting on the top of a chair besides the desk which was probably only moved there for her to sit on while she was sorted. She knew well enough that many wizarding families kept it a secret from their children so it would be a surprise, but then again as an adult no matter how shielded she was it wouldn't be really surprising she supposed if she knew. This time she wouldn't pretend to be completely clueless, she decided.

"I suppose that the old dirty hat just there is for me to try on," she replied. "Is it ever being washed?" she wondered with a smirk letting her personality shine through the layers of carefully crafted persona for pretty much the first time since meeting the professor. Obviously, McGonagall preferred shielded and soft-spoken Dora Turner to Don't-call-me-Nymphadora Tonks, because the look she received as an answer was not nice.

"You!" She somewhat recognized the shrill voice and automatically turned towards the thousand-year-old artefact. She has heard the hat sing at every Sorting Ceremony and heard it talk in her mind, but this was probably the first time she heard it speak up without starting on a tune other than when it announced the houses. "Don't go around insulting me for I'm the Sorting Hat."

"Nice to meet you too," she replied somewhat awkwardly. Talking to a sentient hat was strange even if she grew up in the wizarding world. "I'd shake hands and all, but obviously you don't have any." Probably not the best thing to say to an old magical artefact, but whenever she felt awkward, she just lightened the mood with some teasing and joking.

McGonagall's pressed her lips together and then motioned towards the chair. Tonks picked up the Sorting Hat and sat down, placing it on her head. It was still a bit big on her head, but certainly not as much as the first time around. That was something she wasn't sure about – would the Sorting Hat keep her secret? Would it even sort her knowing that she wasn't school-aged? She could only hope. Maybe when Godric Gryffindor decided to use his hat to sort the students, he added some magical confidentiality protocol to it so the students wouldn't rebel about trying it on after a few years of shared deep secrets. If not, she supposed her time traveling past would still only be revealed to Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore – she could probably manage that. She would have to improvise a lot though.

"This is not the first time we meet Miss _Tonks_ ; I see. Fear not, I'm the keeper of many secrets." It knew. Not that it was surprising as the Sorting Hat was supposed to be able to read her mind and sort her in just seconds or minutes understanding her past and predicting her future, but it still came as a shock hearing her real name here. She let out a relieved sigh when the Hat told her that her secrets wouldn't be revealed. Knowing that one of the main issues with this ceremony was handled, she moved on to the second one. _Gryffindor, Gryffindor, Gryffindor_ – she repeated the house she hoped to belong under her breath as a mantra.

"My only task is to sort the witches and wizards accepted to Hogwarts. You are a witch who was invited to this school, but as I've already done my job back where you came from, I'll not do it again. HUFFLEPUFF!" The Hat called out the name of the same house as last time.

While she was a proud Hufflepuff back in her time, she was disappointed this time around that he Sorting Hat didn't even take any time to look into her placement, it just repeated its previous judgment. When she was eleven the Hat wasn't sure if she was better suited for Hufflepuff or Gryffindor, taking minutes debating between the two, giving her the chance for some input as well. She told the Hat then that she didn't really care, she would be happy with either choice. Now it was all different though, the situation she faced had changed her mind about the topic. She most certainly hasn't come up with a war-changing plan yet, but she knew from the first moment she decided to attend Hogwarts that this time around she would need to be a Gryffindor.

She felt numb when she stood up and put down the Hat on the chair. She thought she would have to argue a bit with the Hat and make her point on why she should be in Gryffindor, but it never occurred to her that the Hat would straight out refuse to even consider putting her in a different house. She considered the idea of not being sorted at all, but not being put into Hufflepuff again, she supposed it was stupid of her, she should have thought about this option as well.

"Congratulations on your sorting, Miss Turner. Your luggage will be moved to the Hufflepuff dormitory. I've asked for a sixth-year prefect from my house to escort you to the Great Hall for breakfast and after that to your first class." McGonagall picked up a piece of parchment from her desk and held it out for Tonks who took it without even glancing at it, still a bit dazed about her first big failure since arriving to the past. She was a Hufflepuff in a time she only knew Gryffindors. Great. To make it worse she even felt some stupid guilt for not being happy with her originally beloved House.

After all, she most certainly possessed many Hufflepuff traits, acceptance being one of them, so it was not like she didn't believe in inter-house friendships. She had friends from all houses at school, even Slytherin. However, this time around she had just a bit more than a year to make some very good friends and sharing a dorm with a key player in the chess game of the First Wizarding War as Lily Evans would have most certainly helped.

"Thank you, professor," she replied half-heartedly her mind still trying to process the fact that the Hat didn't even give her a chance. Stupid old and stubborn piece of clothing. It should have been thrown into the trash a long time ago. She guessed that the Hat thought itself so all-knowing and amazing that it wouldn't ever consider putting someone in another house after having made its decision. Which was completely bonkers, people change when affected by some big alterations in their lives. Merlin, even her Patronus had changed!

However, before she could set the Hat on fire as it deserved, there was a knock on the door. "Come in." McGonagall called out and the door opened. Tonks turned towards the door somewhat curiously, but her mind was still focused on what she should do about the situation she didn't really expect. "Ah, Mr. Lupin, this is Dorothea Turner. Miss Turner, Remus Lupin, one of the Gryffindor prefects."

Tonks forgot to breathe for a moment when she caught the sight of the person entering through the door. It was only then that she comprehended that McGonagall asked for a prefect from Gryffindor who was in the same year as she as Dora Turner was supposed to be. She should have realized sooner that it meant being introduced to either Remus or to Harry's future mother, Lily. Somehow, she didn't expect their first new meeting to go like this though, she thought she would be more prepared, charming even. Currently she felt like a complete mess even by her standards.

Without Sirius around to be the centre of attention and now knowing that indeed she wasn't going mad, as she was faced with a considerably younger-looking Remus, she could conclude that he was always handsome. He was just the 'boy next door' type and most girls instead swooned for the 'bad boys' like Sirius. If she was really seventeen herself, she most certainly would prefer the second category. However, as a someone older she had already learned her lessons. No, the boy in front of her was very attractive in an unpresuming kind of way like he was used to hiding behind his more charming and loud friends which she supposed wasn't surprising with mates like Sirius Black or James Potter. His hair was a richer and darker shade of brown and much thicker than she had ever known him with. His face less lined and missing any type of facial hair and his eyes didn't have the same dark pain in them, instead they shone with curiosity and kindness. With her reduced height he was pretty much towering over her having reached probably his full height or close to it by seventeen. Oh, yes, she was doomed.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you, Dorothea," he greeted her, his voice not as warm as she was used to when addressing her, but still friendly and polite. The name she chose sounded so wrong from his mouth though. She could imagine his teasing smile and the way he would say 'Nymphadora' and her automatic snapping at him not to call her that, but none of that happened. No, to him now she was Dorothea and not Nymphadora and no matter how much she always hated her first name, she was now upset about the change.

"You too. Just call me Dora," she replied hating that he called her a name that wasn't really hers. At least she could still be Dora.

"Dora." The way he said her nickname (the one originally only he and her father could get away with using) was achingly familiar. His voice still lacked that warmth she learned to love, but for a moment it really was like being back where she belonged. Professor McGonagall quickly ruined the moment though.

"Mr. Lupin, please escort Miss Turner to the Hufflepuff table and introduce her to Miss Meadowes and Mr. Darcy if they are present." Turning to Tonks she explained. "They are the sixth year Hufflepuff prefects." She nodded in understanding. She wondered if 'Miss Meadowes' was really Dorcas Meadowes, a member of the original Order of the Phoenix who was killed during the first war. She dearly hoped not, because she was already upset by the sheer number of walking dead she would have to interact with soon. Then again, if this was indeed Dorcas Meadowes, she maybe one more person Tonks could save if she was lucky, she supposed.

"Of course, professor," Remus replied and then he turned towards Tonks. "Shall we?" he gestured towards the door and Tonks nodded somewhat numbly. It has been too long since she had talked to Remus, she had so much to tell him and yet this wasn't the man she was to tell all that. The same way this was McGonagall, but not the one she knew, this was Remus, but not yet hers.

She knew countless things about this one too, little things he shared about his childhood and his Hogwarts years and general traits that wouldn't have changed much over the years, but there were still so many differences. Plus, while she might have known much about this Remus, he knew nothing about her. Merlin, what he knew were all lies as well! She was so not ready for this meeting. There was no way to escape it now though – McGonagall decided that Remus would be her tour guide after all. Of course, Remus was the type to take such a task seriously. McGonagall's office was on the first floor, so when they left the small study, they started walking down the first-floor corridor towards the Marble Staircase.

"Don't worry if at first the castle seems impossibly huge and hard to navigate, if you ever need some help, I'm sure any of the prefects would gladly give you some advice, I know I would." It has been a while since Tonks was a Hogwarts student, but she was pretty sure she wouldn't have any problems with finding her way. However, Remus did give her a good excuse to start some conversations with him and Lily. She decided to lay the foundations to that.

"I'm bad with directions. Bloody hell, there should be a map for a castle this big," she said half-joking. The amusement on Remus's face was obvious and it only took a moment for Tonks to realize why. It was the end of the Marauders' sixth year so by now they surly had finished the Marauder's Map or at least were close to it. She paled at the thought of that sheet of parchment. Until now it didn't occur to her that she would have to get it from the boys if she didn't want to be found out as no matter her abilities, the Map would recognize her as Nymphadora Tonks. She was so bad in this past-changing thing. She forgot already about such an important thing as the Map and it was only her first day at Hogwarts!

"You are right, by now someone should have made a map," he said with an all-knowing grin. When he smiled like that Tonks couldn't help but start smiling herself even though she felt awful for forgetting about the Map. It would be probably the best idea to get it as soon as possible before any of the Marauders would think about checking her on it. "But don't worry, in no time you'll feel like you know every little secret of this place."

"Every secret? I always imagined a castle this magical has many of those," she replied. Having learned about the Room of Requirement, having heard of the Chamber of Secrets, and having taken part in the search for the Cursed Vaults she was certain that even the infamous Marauders weren't able to learn half the secrets of the castle during their seven years so the idea that she would learn all of it in just a year seemed laughable. However, she knew Remus well enough to know what he was doing. He tried to make her feel welcomed and to make her believe that just because she was very late to the party it didn't mean she missed it entirely. It was sweet and such a Remus-like thing to do she couldn't help but smile like some weirdo.

"My friends always like to boast to anyone willing to listen that we know everything there is to know about this castle, but honestly I agree with you. There are always new surprises awaiting us at Hogwarts – one of its beauties." The way his eyes lightened up when talking about Hogwarts was always something Tonks loved about Remus. Seeing the same in this version of Remus warmed her heart, because it meant that no matter the fact that this boy in front of her was twenty years younger than the man she knew, they were essentially the same people. He must have changed a lot over the years, but not enough to be unrecognizable to her.

"It's a beautiful castle. I love it already," she muttered as she ran her fingers down the carvings of the stone wall. He stopped abruptly and she did the same, her right hand never leaving the cool surface of the stone wall.

"What was it like – being home-schooled?" he asked somewhat timidly, suddenly becoming much shier as if he was not sure he could ask such a question. She guessed it was because to him being home-schooled meant the loss of chance of normal life. Attending Hogwarts was a dream came true to Remus something he didn't think he could have as a werewolf so she supposed he was curious to know what it would have been like without it, but at the same time to him it was a very personal matter. His reason of nearly missing out on Hogwarts and hers were vastly different though – to her it didn't seem too bad of a question. She was pretty sure she was about to be asked the same by pretty much everyone, simply their questioning would be just less tactful.

"Lonely mostly. I love magic, but it was always just my mother, my tutor and I – I don't even have friends. Had a few Muggle ones, but they never could quite understand me, you know," she replied probably sharing more than it was usual with a guy she had met like five minutes ago, but this was Remus. It was good to tell someone that she felt lonely, especially someone she knew understood the feeling perfectly even if the reasons and the backstory were all lies. She looked up and caught Remus's faraway expression, but before it could get awkward, he softly smiled.

"Well, I'm sure you will quickly make lots of friends – Hufflepuffs are generally all very kind, really. But if you ever need some company, you could find me as well." The Remus she knew was a very kind person, but he wouldn't offer his companionship like that to a virtual stranger. He usually stayed away from people as if his condition was infectious through any type of contact. This was the first real difference she noticed between the younger and the older version and she had to admit she kind of liked this response more. She decided to stay here and change things up so people like Remus would have better lives, but it didn't even occur to me that it would mean in the end he'd be somewhat different as well. She supposed if he was a happier version of himself, she could most certainly live with the change.

"I found at least one kind Gryffindor too then," she offered, and he smiled. "Thank you."

"What lessons are you taking?" The Remus she knew couldn't take compliments either, so she wasn't surprised by the quick change in the conversation and the once again light tone of it. In her left hand she was still holding the piece of parchment she received from McGonagall, which she passed to Remus without a thought.

"Oh, we are taking the same N.E.W.T. classes except I don't have Potions, but take Arithmancy instead," he said with some surprise though what he said was certainly not any news to Tonks. "I'll see you around a lot then, I suppose." His smile at the seemed genuine, which she really appreciated, because it meant that she didn't mess up their first meeting too much. He gave her schedule back and she asked about the classes they shared then. She listened to his impressions of the subjects and the teachers adding her own thoughts every once in the while, but she was mostly content just listening to him enthusiastically and passionately talking about all the things he enjoyed during the lessons.

Before she even noticed they were by the Marble Staircase that lead to the Entrance Hall. She reluctantly followed Remus down the staircase knowing that their time together would be over soon. She looked at the house point hourglasses curiously and Remus must have noticed her staring because he cut off his monologue about their current D.A.D.A. professor and changed the topic entirely to house points. "Hufflepuff is currently the first, yes. But the school year is not yet over, we, lions don't take losing lightly, so you shouldn't be celebrating too early."

Tonks had nothing to do with the results as she has just arrived, but she had to admit that she felt a certain sense of pride when she noticed that Hufflepuff was leading the competition. Sure, she was upset that things didn't go the way she planned but seeing the sheer number of those yellow marbles reminded her of the love and pride she had for Hufflepuff. In a way the Sorting Hat was right – it had done its job back in 1984. She would have been okay in Gryffindor, she liked those gold and red-maniac lions, but she was a badger, she always would be. Maybe based on her traits she could have fit in both houses, but once the decision was made, she became a real Hufflepuff.

"Is it mad that I'm excited about this?" she asked with a grin gesturing towards the hourglasses. Remus chuckled.

"Nah, I don't think so. People around here take it very seriously, you'll fit in just well with the rest. Come, I think you'll like the Great Hall." Tonks looked back at the hourglasses once more before entering the Great Hall through the heavy big wooden doors. The Great Hall looked just as she remembered with the four tables for the houses and the fifth for the staff and with that enchanted ceiling. She stared at the ceiling as she was supposed to be, like it was the first time she saw it. Honestly, it was not hard to look impressed, it was a sight that always left everyone breathless.

Sadly, the Hufflepuff and the Gryffindor tables were the two furthest apart, so she knew that their conversation would be soon over. She should have known better though as Remus took McGonagall's instruction much more seriously than most seventeen-year-old boys would. He headed for the Hufflepuff table where many of her future housemates were already eating their breakfasts. Remus looked up and down the table obviously looking for someone specific, but he greeted a few people who noticed him. Tonks waved herself feeling awkward under the stares the pair of them received. Remus must have noticed the person he looked for, because he shepherded Tonks a bit further down the table in the direction of the staff table.

"Dorcas, hi. I was looking for you." He touched the shoulder of a girl who automatically stood up and turned around. The girl in question must have been Dorcas Meadowes then, especially because Tonks noticed the 'Prefect' badge on her yellow-black robes. She was a pretty girl with long black wavy hair in a high ponytail, dark skin and big bright brown eyes. She smiled widely when she noticed the pair of them.

"Remus, it's nice to see you." Then she turned her attention towards Tonks.

"Dora Turner," she offered. "Call me Dora," she decided. The basic rule of lying was to stick to the truth as closely as possible after all. Telling everyone that she didn't like her first name and they should just call her by her family name would have been the other obvious option, but she was afraid that at one point she would just accidentally say 'Call me Tonks' instead of 'Turner'.

"This is Dora's first day at Hogwarts, she is a sixth year and she has just been Sorted into Hufflepuff," Remus explained. Obviously, her arrival was not yet public knowledge, because Dorcas seemed surprised. She smiled at Dora though.

"You will love Hufflepuff! I'll just introduce you then to our roommates," she gushed. Half paying attention to Dorcas who started listing all the girls in their sixth year in Hufflepuff she turned towards Remus who was standing around awkwardly obviously not wanting to leave her there just like that but probably feeling left out and useless as a Gryffindor boy.

"Thank you," she mouthed to him not wanting to interrupt Dorcas. He offered her another smile. She noted that she had seen Remus smile more in the ten minutes she had spent with him here than she had back home in days. Dorcas must have noticed the exchange between them, because she turned towards Remus as well.

"Oh, sorry, Remus, I got a bit carried away," she said apologetically, and Remus shook his head.

"It's okay, I'm going to leave Dora in your capable hands then. Though I promised Professor McGonagall I'll escort her to her first class as well." Yes, it was certainly not a bad thing that Remus took McGonagall's words so seriously. Tonks was glad to be able to spend some more time getting to know him.

"No need for that Remus, there are more than enough Hufflepuff prefects around to handle one new student, it's our responsibility not yours," Dorcas replied and Remus thanked Dorcas for it then said good-bye to them only to walk to the completely other side of the room. Tonks watched him for a moment realizing that indeed as a Gryffindor she surly would have an easier time. Watching him walk away was not a nice feeling, she once again felt completely alone even if she was surrounded by dozens of Hufflepuffs.

"Hey, come, Dora! Let's meet everyone!" Dorcas said enthusiastically not noticing that Tonks was still only half-paying attention to her. Tonks took a deep breath and then plastered a smile on her face. She turned towards the table where already many students were looking in their direction curiously. She was so not ready to be the new student, the new meat. Well, here goes nothing, she thought sarcastically.


End file.
